Biden administration officials say they are serious about global climate change, and that they are demonstrating their intent with an initiative that funds projects across the African continent.Climate change, poverty and economic growth — these three indicators, the U.S. leadership says, are inextricably linked in the fight against environmental degradation in the developing world.But to make change happen, they need money. Enter the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. agency that gives out big grants to modernize infrastructure, address policy reforms, and promote growth in sectors that affect everyone in the economy, from the youngest child to the most ambitious entrepreneur.Acting CEO Mahmoud Bah explained in a call with journalists on Monday.“These grants are large, multi-year and predictable,” he said. “These are not loans and they do not add to the country’s debt burden. Our compacts tend to pair large investment in infrastructure in sectors like water, energy, agriculture with institutional and policy reforms that ensure those investments have a significant and sustainable impact.”What that looks like on the ground, he explained, is this: hundreds of millions of dollars poured into developing nations — most of them African — for hydropower projects, agricultural improvements, better access to electricity and land reform.Neither Bah nor his deputy, Alexia Latortue, explicitly mentioned China, which is rapidly rolling out development across Africa through an ambitious infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Latortue sought to distinguish the American way of doing business.“MCC’s three strategic priorities are inclusion and gender, catalyzing the private sector, and thirdly, climate,” she said. “… And if there’s one takeaway I have for you, it’s that the three priorities are all about helping to achieve high-quality growth.”And, she said, the U.S. has proven this commitment.“MCC recognizes that climate change is absolutely linked to poverty and economic growth,” she said. “Indeed, MCC was an early leader in fighting climate change in developing countries, investing in the past five years alone, over $1.5 billion dollars, which is about 38% of our program of funds, in climate-related activity. Our climate work covers adaptation, climate resilience and mitigation.”And the corporation has made a new goal: more than half of their funds in the next five years will be used for climate change work around the world.
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Month: May 2021
New Zealand Announces ‘Travel Bubble’ with Cook Islands
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday the country will form a “travel bubble” with the Cook Islands, allowing quarantine-free travel between the two nations beginning on May 17.
At a news press briefing in Wellington, Ardern said the two nations were able to make the arrangement since they both showed a strong response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand’s national rate of infection is below two percent.
One-way quarantine-free travel from the Cook Islands to New Zealand has been permitted since January.
Last month New Zealand and Australia began a similar arrangement for quarantine-free travel. Travelers to each country cannot be awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, cannot have had a positive result in the previous 14 days and cannot be experiencing symptoms.
Ardern also said New Zealand would help the Cook Islands with their COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supplying enough Pfizer-BioNTech doses to immunize their entire population.
The Cook Islands, about 3,200 kilometers northeast of New Zealand, depend heavily on New Zealand tourists for their economy.
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WHO: Small Ebola Outbreak Contained in DR Congo
The World Health Organization says a small outbreak of the Ebola virus has been contained in an eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).According to Congo’s Ministry of Health, the outbreak inflected 12 people and killed six in North Kivu province.The WHO congratulated the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s health authorities and the heath workers “on the ground for their swift response which built on the country’s previous experience in tackling Ebola outbreaks,” said the U.N. agency in a statement Monday.According to its statement, the WHO had an estimated 60 experts on the ground to help local workers trace contacts, provide treatment, engage communities and vaccinate nearly 2,000 people at high risk, including more than 500 front-line workers.“Huge credit must be given to the local health workers and the national authorities for their prompt response, tenacity, experience and hard work that brought this outbreak under control,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.The outbreak is the 12th known Ebola outbreak in the country in the last 45 years and the fourth in fewer than three years.The WHO is calling for continued vigilance to prevent another flare-up in the next months.“It is important to continue with sustained disease surveillance, monitoring of alerts and working with communities to detect and respond rapidly to any new cases and WHO will continue to assist health authorities with their efforts to contain quickly a sudden re-emergence of Ebola,” the agency said.Genetic sequencing done on the Ebola virus linked it to a previous outbreak that spread through North Kivu and a neighboring province in 2018.That outbreak killed more than 2,000 people in the second-largest Ebola epidemic in modern history.The biggest killed more than 11,000 in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.
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Malawi President Eyes Mining as Key Money Maker
Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has announced plans to reform the country’s mining sector to boost the economy and crack down on rampant, illegal mining and mineral smuggling. Chakwera said, if properly regulated, mining could play a major role in Malawi’s economy, currently one of the poorest in Africa.Malawi’s president, in a national television address late Sunday, said a well-regulated mining sector has the potential to develop the country’s economy.Lazarus Chakwera noted that despite a lot of mineral resources in Malawi, the sector has faced exploitation not only by foreigners but also local miners.He gave an example of uranium mining activities in the Kayelekera area of northern Malawi, run by Australia-based company Paladin Africa, which he said did not yield the desired results. “Although the Kayelekera sandstone uranium deposit was discovered during Malawi’s first presidency in 1982, six presidencies later our country has nothing developmental to show for it, not even in the Kayelekera community itself,” said Chakwera.Chakwera said Malawi has issued over 250 mining licenses but has no proper mining industry or returns to speak of.Minerals found in Malawi include uranium, gold, bauxite, coal and phosphates. The country has a proliferation of small-scale miners – most of whom are operating without a license. In 2018 Malawi police and soldiers cracked down on a gold mining site outside the capital, Lilongwe, that was attracting foreign buyers from neighboring countries. They burnt down the mining site and shacks and also arrested some illegal miners.Percy Maleta diplays some of the minerals in Malawi. (Courtesy: of Nyasa Mining Corperative)Percy Maleta is the chairperson for Nyasa Mining Corporative in the capital Lilongwe. He says the minerals being mined do not generate any revenue for the country.”We have a sector which doesn’t pay tax especially with the gold rush where we are losing a lot of land to unprofessional type of mining,” said Maleta. “When we are exporting these stones, very few stones go through the system. I wouldn’t ever be surprised to say that it is less than 10%. Most of our stones are being taken outside Malawi through unchartered routes.”He says there is greater need to bring sanity into the industry so it can replace tobacco as Malawi’s main source of foreign exchange. Malawi President Proposes Switch from Growing Tobacco Lazarus Chakwera said Malawi should switch to other cash crops like cannabis, which was legalized last year for industrial and medicinal useLawmaker Welani Chilenga chairs the Natural Resources Committee in Malawi parliament.He told a local radio Monday that Malawi has enough laws to regulate the mining industry but the problem is implementing them. “As a country we have a very strong Mines and Minerals Act,” said Chilenga. “Implementation is not taking place. If the act was implemented illegal mining would not have been there. We have mine all over. We don’t have to regularize illegal mining. We should have contained according to the law. So, the government is failing to implement the existing laws which parliament passed which are the biggest problem.”In his speech, President Chakwera said the ministry of mining will work with the police to curb illegal mining and smuggling activities.
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G-7 Foreign Ministers Meet in Person to Discuss Pandemic, Russia, China
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in London for talks with his counterparts from G-7 nations, with the coronavirus pandemic, Russia and China among likely agenda items during three days of formal meetings and side discussions. Iran and North Korea, two nations whose nuclear programs have been the focus of negotiations in recent years, are set to be discussed at a working welcome dinner Monday night. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Monday he was “grateful to have this opportunity to have in-depth discussions with the U.S. after the conclusion of your policy review towards North Korea,” as he met with Blinken. On Friday, the Biden administration announced a strategy toward North Korea that expresses openness to talks with the reclusive communist nation.US readout of meeting between Yael Lempert, Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy, left, and John Holloway, UK representative from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office greet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in northeast of London on May 2, 2021.Britain’s Foreign Office said Raab and Blinken would be consulting on Afghanistan, Iran, China and trade in their meeting. The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain. The U.S. State Department said this week’s meetings would be a chance to discuss “advancing economic growth, human rights, food security, gender equality, and women’s and girls’ empowerment.” In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks. After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is due to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior government officials. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”
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Somali Journalists Alarmed Over Spike in Attacks on Media
Somalia is one of the lowest-ranked countries in Africa for press freedom, and advocates are calling on authorities to do more to support journalists as the Horn of Africa nation looks ahead to elections. Over the past four months in Somalia, authorities have raided three media houses and arrested some 30 journalists. In March, police shot and wounded two Mogadishu journalists and others who were on assignment. According to the Somali Journalists Syndicate, a Mogadishu-based media advocacy group, all of these acts were perpetrated by Somali government state security agencies such as the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and police. Bashir Mohamud Yusuf, who is the editor of Mustaqbal radio, says he sustained injuries and that his equipment was confiscated after police raided his station in the capital on April 27. He says the special police broke into the premises and ordered the media workers to surrender before torturing them. He added that the security agencies seized the station’s equipment, including laptops, which have yet to be returned. Somalia has long maintained its unenviable title as one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism. In March, al-Shabab militants claimed responsibility for the death of a journalist who was attacked in his Galkayo home. But other factors, such as a deadlock over how to hold still unscheduled elections, have increased threats against the journalists. “The attacks and threats against journalists are on the rise in what we believe is due to the ongoing stalemate on the elections and the critical transitional which Somalia is in now,” said Abdalla Mumin, secretary-general of Somali Journalists Syndicate. Mumin says Somali authorities also manipulate Facebook into blocking critical reports online through the use of hired trolls. “We are also concerned about the use of Facebook’s content management system called community standards, which they use as an excuse to block and censure independent and critical reporting by the Somali journalists and the local media houses,” he said. “This issue is affecting journalists because whenever journalists report something on Facebook on other social media platforms, government trolls who are on standby usually attack by reporting this content, and [the] content ends up being censored or deleted from the social media.” A statement by the office of Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, issued on World Press Freedom Day, said his administration is working hard to improve the working environment of Somali journalists by giving them access to government information while working to ensure their safety. He also urged the media to refrain from reporting unverified and unreliable information, saying Somali media should be contributing to the peacebuilding of the country and not resorting to the incitement of election-related violence.
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Biden Hints at More Flexible North Korea Approach
Donald Trump approached North Korea with threats of “fire and fury,” followed by made-for-television summits with its leader, Kim Jong Un. For Barack Obama, it was “strategic patience,” which tried to use steady economic and military pressure to convince Pyongyang to return to talks. Now President Joe Biden is attempting what U.S. officials describe as a middle ground between his predecessors’ approaches, which they acknowledge failed to achieve U.S. objectives. White House officials late last week unveiled the broad outlines of Biden’s North Korea strategy, following a months long internal review. Under Biden’s plan, the U.S. will maintain pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons but will also pursue talks — and perhaps even intermediate deals — to help advance that goal. White House confirms it has finished its North Korea policy review.“Our policy will not focus on achieving a grand bargain nor will it rely on strategic patience,” says FILE – People watch a TV showing an image of North Korea’s new guided missile during a news program at the Suseo Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, March 26, 2021.But the Biden administration appears to be leaving the door open for improved relations, even short of a grand bargain with North Korea. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday the U.S. will pursue “a calibrated, practical approach” that will explore “options for diplomacy.” Speaking to The Washington Post, a U.S. official went further, saying the U.S. may offer North Korea unspecified “relief” in exchange for “particular steps,” even while retaining the “ultimate goal of denuclearization.” “If the Trump administration was everything for everything, Obama was nothing for nothing … this is something in the middle,” the U.S. official told the paper. As of now, Biden’s policy could be dubbed a “something for something” approach, quipped John Delury, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University. Loving this. They might reject labels but for now calling it the “Something for Something” strategy. FILE – People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo.While little is known about North Korea’s pandemic situation, it plays a major role in when Pyongyang will choose to engage the U.S., says Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “We all know that North Korea simply does not have any means to deal with this pandemic,” he says, noting the issue is a major security threat for Kim’s rule. On Sunday, a senior North Korean diplomat lashed out at Biden, calling Washington’s efforts at diplomacy a disguise for its “hostile policy.” The North Korean diplomat also expressed frustration that the U.S. and South Korea recently conducted joint military drills. In a separate statement, a North Korean official took issue with the Biden administration’s recent criticism of Pyongyang’s human rights record. Step-by-step North Korea has boycotted talks with the U.S. since 2019. At a summit in February of that year, Trump rejected an offer in which North Korea would dismantle a key nuclear complex in exchange for the U.S. lifting most sanctions. FILE – John Bolton, left, and others attend an extended bilateral meeting between North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019.Trump preferred a more wide-ranging deal in which the U.S. would lift all sanctions in exchange for North Korea completely dismantling its nuclear program. A growing number of former U.S. officials and other Korea watchers have criticized that all-or-nothing approach, saying it may be necessary to focus on reducing rather than eliminating the threat. As Biden Mulls North Korea, Some Urge Arms Control ApproachThe United States has long demanded the complete denuclearization of North Korea, even as a wide range of Korea watchers agreed that will likely never happenWhile the Biden administration is signaling “step-by-step diplomatic engagement,” much depends on how North Korea responds in the coming months, says Leif-Eric Easley, another professor at Ewha University. “If Pyongyang agrees to working-level talks, the starting point of negotiations would be a freeze of North Korean testing and development of nuclear capabilities and delivery systems,” Easley says. “If, on the other hand, Kim shuns diplomacy and opts for provocative tests, Washington will likely expand sanctions enforcement and military exercises with allies.” More challenges coming? North Korea last month conducted a short-range missile test, its first ballistic missile launch in about a year. Pyongyang has hinted bigger tests may be coming.
It is not clear how Biden would respond to such launches. Biden criticized last month’s test as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and warned of more responses should North Korea escalate. “The Biden administration has been clear that the era of love letters and theatrical summits as a starting point for diplomacy is over,” says Jean Lee, director of the Korea Program at The Wilson Center in Washington D.C. “Hopefully, the administration will build on the diplomatic progress made over the past four years instead of jettisoning everything from the Trump years — but come up with a long-term strategy that takes all stakeholders in the region into account,” she adds. Will Biden be proactive? But some in the region, especially South Korea, fear North Korea will not be a priority for Biden, who is focused on issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, economy, and reviving the Iran nuclear deal. “It’s a negative agenda item for Biden because there’s low return and high risk,” says Kim Joon-hyung, chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, which trains South Korean diplomats.South Korean army soldiers stand guard at a military post at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, May 2, 2021.In Kim’s view, the Biden administration should be proactive and meet the North Koreans as soon as possible. He also recommends that the U.S. be open to compromise, noting that North Korea’s nuclear program is growing every year.“If the U.S. wants all or nothing,” he says, “then they can always get nothing.”
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Differences with China Over Human Rights Record ‘Harder to Reconcile’, New Zealand PM Says
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are growing differences with China over its human rights record, but said those differences will not ultimately define Wellington’s relationship with its largest trading partner. In a speech Monday to the China Business Summit in Auckland , Prime Minister Ardern said it has not escaped anyone’s attention that as Beijing’s role in the world evolves, “the differences between our systems — and the interests and values that shape those systems — are becoming harder to reconcile.” The prime minister said her government has raised “grave concerns” with China over its treatment of ethnic Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and its tightening grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong.Uyghurs and other members of the faithful pray at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as seen during a government organized trip for foreign journalists, April 19, 2021.Ardern’s stern remarks comes weeks after Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta expressed reluctance to expand the role of the Five Eyes intelligence security alliance to criticize China’s human rights record. The Five Eyes alliance includes Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. New Zealand’s previous reluctance to openly criticize China is in stark contrast to Australia, which is engaged in a tense diplomatic and trade dispute over Canberra’s call for an international probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first detected in China in late 2019.
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Germany Shuts Down International Child Pornography Site
Germany has shut down “one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world” and arrested four of its members, authorities said on Monday.
In a series of raids in mid-April, German police arrested three men between the ages of 40 and 64 while and another suspect was detained in Paraguay on the request of German authorities, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a joint statement with the Federal Criminal Police Office.
The website, known as “Boystown,” world’s largest for child pornography with more than 400,000 users, had existed since at least mid-2019. It was “set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography, in particular images of the abuse of boys,” the statement said.
The darknet forum allowed users to communicate with others and share graphic image and video content which included “serious sexual abuse of toddlers.”
A German police task force, in coordination with Europol and supported by law enforcement authorities from the United States, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Sweden, had investigated the “Boystown” platform, its administrators and users for months.
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G-7 Foreign Ministers Meet in London to Discuss Pandemic, Russia, China
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in London for talks with his counterparts from G-7 nations, with the coronavirus pandemic, Russia and China among likely agenda items during three days of formal meetings and side discussions. Iran and North Korea, two nations whose nuclear programs have been the focus of negotiations in recent years, are set to be discussed at a working welcome dinner Monday night. Blinken’s sideline meetings Monday include talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, Bruneian Foreign Minister II Dato Erywan Yusof, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishanka and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. “It was eight years ago that the U.K. (United Kingdom), our indispensable Ally, last hosted the G-7 Presidency,” Blinken tweeted after arriving in Britain. “It’s good to be back among partners and allies for these discussions.”Yael Lempert, Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy, left, and John Holloway, UK representative from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office greet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in northeast of London on May 2, 2021.Britain’s Foreign Office said Raab and Blinken would be consulting on Afghanistan, Iran, China and trade in their meeting. The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain. The U.S. State Department said this week’s meetings would be a chance to discuss “advancing economic growth, human rights, food security, gender equality, and women’s and girls’ empowerment.” In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks. After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is due to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior government officials. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”
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US Noncommittal on Vaccine Patents Waiver
Amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in India and other parts of the world, the United States remains noncommittal on an October 2020 proposal by India and South Africa to waive certain provisions of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The proposal would loosen patent restrictions so that countries can manufacture generic versions of the coronavirus vaccines. “We are working with our global partners to explore pragmatic and effective steps to surge production and equitable distribution of vaccines,” a United States Trade Representative (USTR) official told VOA. The administration is still weighing arguments from waiver proponents, including members of the progressive wing of President Joe Biden’s own party who say that it could be a game changer in the global fight against the pandemic, and opponents, Republican senators as well as the pharmaceutical industry, who insist that strong intellectual property protection is key to innovation. They say waiving it could backfire, creating further backlog for limited vaccine ingredients and revealing trade secrets to international rivals. “Our overall objective is to provide as much supply to the global community and do that in a cost-effective manner,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, adding that USTR has not made a final recommendation on the issue. U.S. indecision was met with disappointment by many WTO members convening in a working level meeting on TRIPS on Friday. More than 80 members of the consensus-driven body support the proposal, but it has been blocked by some, including the European Union and the U.S. under the Trump administration. Under the People’s Vaccine campaign, humanitarian organizations, 60 former heads of state and 100 Nobel Prize winners have urged Biden to look seriously at the humanitarian cost of protecting intellectual property rights. “The TRIPS waiver is one of the critical tools that can empower government to address the current situation of the scarcity of supply,” said Yuanqiong Hu, senior legal and policy adviser of Doctors Without Borders, one of the organizations who support the campaign. Lawmakers from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have urged the Biden administration to stand up against intense pressure from the powerful pharmaceutical industry. In recent days, heads of pharmaceutical companies including Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca have met with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai to lobby against the waiver. In March, the trade group PhRMA sent a letter to Biden, warning that undermining intellectual property would impede response to COVID-19 and emerging variants. “An intellectual property waiver would not help accelerate COVID-19 vaccine access or address the very real supply chain and logistical constraints,” a spokesperson for PhRMA told VOA via an email statement. “What can continue to help is global collaboration, partnerships and licensing agreements, which vaccine makers will continue pursuing.” But waiver proponents say that’s simply not true. “We know there is a lot of unused capacity in developing countries,” Hu, of Doctors Without Borders, said. “Lifting the waiver can provide transformative and substantive help for companies who are ready and competent but worried about being sued.” Bill Gates Last week, USTR’s Tai also spoke with Bill Gates who, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, sponsored Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private global health partnership aiming to increase low-income countries’ access to immunization. Gavi is the driving force behind COVAX, the United Nations’ mechanism to improve low- and middle-income countries access to vaccines. Despite more than two decades of philanthropic work on vaccines, Gates is a fierce defender of intellectual property protections and has spoken publicly against waiving vaccine patents. Responding to VOA’s query, a Gates Foundation spokesperson said they are “focused on the policy and process barriers that stand in the way of equitable access to vaccines,” but the TRIPS waiver is a decision for members of the WTO. A spokesperson for Gavi said the best way to address the need for greater, more equitable global supply is through technology transfer in which the private sector invests in new manufacturing capacity and shares know-how with emerging economies. Such a partnership-based approach, the spokesperson said, “represents the quickest way to boost production as it brings together those that know how to make vaccines with those that need them most.” “It makes very little sense,” said Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Global Health Policy and Politics Initiative at Georgetown University. “Sometimes we should listen to billionaires when it comes to things like global health, but sometimes we really shouldn’t. And this is one where we don’t want to listen to him.” With the World Health Organization reporting on Tuesday 5.7 million new global cases in the last week, an 8% weekly jump and the highest level on record, Kavanagh said now is the time for the administration to be decisive on the TRIPS waiver. “The fact that we haven’t seen that is disappointing so far.” Doha declaration
There is precedent in the global effort to loosen medical patent restrictions during a health crisis. The Doha Declaration, adopted in 2001, clarified flexibilities within the 1994 TRIPS Agreement. It has been used by countries, including Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil, to issue compulsory licenses for HIV/AIDS drugs, which means that these governments can waive intellectual property rights without the license owners’ consent. Proponents of the COVID-19 vaccine waiver are hoping to apply the same principle of the Doha Declaration, but opponents say that unlike the simpler HIV/AIDS drugs, vaccines are much more complex and encompass multiple layers of intellectual property protection, from their ingredients and manufacturing to delivery. That is why Moderna’s recent announcement that it will not enforce the intellectual property rights of its COVID-19 vaccine may not mean much. Moderna can change its mind at any time, and it is also not the sole holder of the mRNA technology used in its vaccines. In fact, hundreds of patents, held by various entities, are related to the mRNA technology, meaning that even if Moderna does not enforce its patent, the legal risk remains because other companies, such as Pfizer, could.
Waiving vaccine patents will again be in focus at the WTO General Council meeting on May 5.
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US Begins Reuniting Some Families Separated at Mexico Border
The Biden administration said Monday that four families who were separated at the Mexico border during Donald Trump’s presidency will be reunited in the United States this week in what Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls “just the beginning” of a broader effort.
Two of the four families include mothers who were separated from their children in late 2017, one Honduran and another Mexican, Mayorkas said, declining to detail their identities. He described them as children who were 3 years old at the time and “teenagers who have had to live without their parent during their most formative years”.
Parents will return to the United States on humanitarian parole while authorities consider other longer-term forms of legal status, said Michelle Brane, executive director of the administration’s Family Reunification Task Force. The children are already in the U.S.
Exactly how many families will reunite in the United States and in what order is linked to negotiations with the American Civil Liberties Union to settle a federal lawsuit in San Diego, but Mayorkas said there were more to come.
“We continue to work tirelessly to reunite many more children with their parents in the weeks and months ahead,” Mayorkas told reporters ahead of the announcement. “We have a lot of work still to do, but I am proud of the progress we have made and the reunifications that we have helped to achieve this week.”
More than 5,000 children were separated from their parents during the Trump administration going back to July 1, 2017, many of them under a “zero-tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute any adult who entered the country illegally, according to court filings. The Biden administration is doing its own count going back to Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 and, according to Brane, believes more than 1,000 families remain separated.
While family separation under “zero-tolerance” ended in June 2018 under court order and shortly after Trump reversed course, Biden has repeatedly assailed the practice as an act of cruelty. An executive order on his first day in office pledged to reunite families that were still separated “to the greatest extent possible.”
The reunifications begin as the Biden administration confronts the third major increase in unaccompanied children arriving at the border in seven years. It has made strides moving children from grossly overcrowded Border Patrol facilities to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shelters, which are more suited to longer-term stays until children are placed with sponsors in the United States, typically parents or close relatives.
The average stay for an unaccompanied child in Border Patrol custody has plummeted to about 20 hours, below the legal limit of 72 hours and down from 133 hours in late March, Mayorkas said. There are 677 unaccompanied children in Border Patrol custody, down from more than 5,700 in late March.
Health and Human Services opened 14 emergency intake centers, raising capacity to nearly 20,000 beds from 952 when the Federal Emergency Management Agency was dispatched March 13, Mayorkas said. About 400 asylum officers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have been assigned as case managers to speed the release of children to sponsors. As of Thursday, Health and Human Services had 22,557 children in its care.
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Philippines Foreign Minister Issues Expletive-laced Tweet over China Sea Dispute
The Philippine foreign minister on Monday demanded in an expletive-laced message on Twitter that China’s vessels get out of disputed waters, marking the latest exchange in a war of words with Beijing over its activities in the South China Sea. The comments by Teodoro Locsin, known for making blunt remarks at times, follow Manila’s protests for what it calls the “illegal” presence of hundreds of Chinese boats inside the Philippines 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). “China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see… O…GET THE F— OUT,” Locsin said in a tweet on his personal account. “What are you doing to our friendship? You. Not us. We’re trying. You. You’re like an ugly oaf forcing your attentions on a handsome guy who wants to be a friend; not to father a Chinese province…,” Locsin said. China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese officials have previously said the vessels at the disputed Whitsun Reef were fishing boats taking refuge from rough seas. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $3 trillion of ship-borne trade passes each year. In 2016, an arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled the claim, which Beijing bases on its old maps, was inconsistent with international law. In a statement on Monday, the Philippine foreign ministry accused China’s coast guard of “shadowing, blocking, dangerous maneuvers, and radio challenges of the Philippine coast guard vessels.” Philippine officials believe the Chinese vessels are manned by militia. On Sunday, the Philippines vowed to continue maritime exercises in its EEZ in the South China Sea in response to a China demand that it stop actions it said could escalate disputes. As of April 26, the Philippines had filed 78 diplomatic protests to China since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016, foreign ministry data shows. “Our statements are stronger too because of the more brazen nature of the activities, the number, frequency and proximity of intrusions,” Marie Yvette Banzon-Abalos, executive director for strategic communications at the foreign ministry, said. Duterte for the most part has pursued warmer ties with China in exchange for Beijing’s promises of billions of dollars in investment, aid and loans. While the Philippine leader still considers China “a good friend,” he said last week: “There are things that are not really subject to a compromise.”
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New Zealand’s Ardern Says Differences with China Over Human Rights Record ‘Harder to Reconcile’
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are growing differences with China over its human rights record, but said those differences will not ultimately define Wellington’s relationship with its largest trading partner. In a speech Monday to the China Business Summit in Auckland , Prime Minister Ardern said it has not escaped anyone’s attention that as Beijing’s role in the world evolves, “the differences between our systems — and the interests and values that shape those systems — are becoming harder to reconcile.” The prime minister said her government has raised “grave concerns” with China over its treatment of ethnic Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and its tightening grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong.Uyghurs and other members of the faithful pray at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as seen during a government organized trip for foreign journalists, April 19, 2021.Ardern’s stern remarks comes weeks after Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta expressed reluctance to expand the role of the Five Eyes intelligence security alliance to criticize China’s human rights record. The Five Eyes alliance includes Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. New Zealand’s previous reluctance to openly criticize China is in stark contrast to Australia, which is engaged in a tense diplomatic and trade dispute over Canberra’s call for an international probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first detected in China in late 2019.
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Culture of Abuse in Australian Gymnastics, Inquiry Finds
An inquiry into Australian gymnastics has found evidence of widespread abuse, sexism, racism and authoritarian coaching practices, according to a damning report published Monday. Amid a “global reckoning” for the sport, the Australian Human Rights Commission said it found a culture that tolerated emotional, verbal, physical and sexual abuse, as well as medical negligence and body-shaming directed at young athletes over decades. The commission recommended an independent investigation into specific abuse allegations and a formal apology from gymnastics authorities, as well as stricter screening and a national register of coaches, who often have an outsized influence over vulnerable young women. Gymnastics Australia called the findings “confronting” and said it “unreservedly apologizes to all athletes and family members who have experienced any form of abuse”. It promised to adopt all 12 recommendations. The world of gymnastics has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent times. In the United States, former team doctor Larry Nassar was found guilty of sexually assaulting at least 265 identified victims over two decades, including star Simone Biles. In Britain, accusations of abuse have made headlines while in Greece former gymnasts complained of having suffered decades of abuse “akin to torture” at the hands of one of their coaches. The Australian inquiry was launched after local athletes took to social media to comment on the documentary “Athlete A” which concerned the allegations about Nassar. Among the Australians sharing their own negative experiences was Yasmin Collier, who spoke of having to strip naked in front of a male adult masseuse. The Australian commission received hundreds of submissions before delivering its final report. “While many athletes have had positive experiences and relationships with their coaches, there was a persistent use of ‘authoritarian’ or highly disciplinary coaching styles,” their report said. “A focus on ‘winning-at-all-costs’ and an acceptance of negative and abusive coaching behaviors has resulted in the silencing of the athlete voice and an increased risk of abuse and harm with significant short- and long-term impacts to gymnasts,” it stated.
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G-7 Foreign Ministers Gather for Talks in London
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in London for talks with his counterparts from G-7 nations, with the coronavirus pandemic, Russia and China among likely agenda items during two days of formal meetings and side discussions. Iran and North Korea, two nations whose nuclear programs have been the focus of negotiations in recent years, are set to be discussed at a working welcome dinner Monday night. Blinken’s sideline meetings Monday include talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, Bruneian Foreign Minister II Dato Erywan Yusof, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishanka and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. “It was eight years ago that the U.K. (United Kingdom), our indispensable Ally, last hosted the G-7 Presidency,” Blinken tweeted after arriving in Britain. “It’s good to be back among partners and allies for these discussions.”Yael Lempert, Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy, left, and John Holloway, UK representative from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office greet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in northeast of London on May 2, 2021.Britain’s Foreign Office said Raab and Blinken would be consulting on Afghanistan, Iran, China and trade in their meeting. The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain. The U.S. State Department said this week’s meetings would be a chance to discuss “advancing economic growth, human rights, food security, gender equality, and women’s and girls’ empowerment.” In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks. After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is due to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior government officials. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”
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Biden Admin Responds to India Coronavirus Crisis with Supplies
This week, travel from India to the United States will be restricted as the South Asian nation struggles in the grip of a devastating surge of the coronavirus. The Biden administration is sending supplies, but some ask if the U.S. should be doing more. Michelle Quinn reports.Produced by: Mary Cieslak
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Apple Faces Trial Over Its App Store as Gatekeeper
On Monday, Apple faces one of its most serious legal threats in recent years: A trial that threatens to upend its iron control over its app store, which brings in billions of dollars each year while feeding more than 1.6 billion iPhones, iPads, and other devices.The federal court case is being brought by Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite. Epic wants to topple the so-called “walled garden” of the app store, which Apple started building 13 years ago as part of a strategy masterminded by co-founder Steve Jobs.Epic charges that Apple has transformed a once-tiny digital storefront into an illegal monopoly that squeezes mobile apps for a significant slice of their earnings. Apple takes a commission of 15% to 30% on purchases made within apps, including everything from digital items in games to subscriptions. Apple denies Epic’s charge.Apple’s highly successful formula has helped turn the iPhone maker into one of the world’s most profitable companies, one with a market value that now tops $2.2 trillion.Privately held Epic is puny by comparison, with an estimated market value of $30 billion. Its aspirations to get bigger hinge in part on its plan to offer an alternative app store on the iPhone. The North Carolina company also wants to break free of Apple’s commissions. Epic says it forked over hundreds of millions of dollars to Apple before Fortnite was expelled from its app store last August, after Epic added a payment system that bypassed Apple.Epic then sued Apple, prompting a courtroom drama that could shed new light on Apple’s management of its app store. Both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney will testify in a Oakland, California federal courtroom that will be set up to allow for social distancing and will require masks at all times.Neither side wanted a jury trial, leaving the decision to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who already seems to know her ruling will probably be appealed, given the stakes in the case.Much of the evidence will revolve around arcane but crucial arguments about market definitions.Epic contends the iPhone has become so ingrained in society that the device and its ecosystem have turned into a monopoly Apple can exploit to unfairly enrich itself and thwart competition.Apple claims it faces significant competition from various alternatives to video games on iPhones. For instance, it points out that about 2 billion other smartphones don’t run iPhone software or work with its app store — primarily those relying on Google’s Android system. Epic has filed a separate case against Google, accusing it of illegally gouging apps through its own app store for Android devices.Apple will also depict Epic as a desperate company hungry for sources of revenue beyond the aging Fortnite. It claims Epic merely wants to freeload off an iPhone ecosystem in which Apple has invested more than $100 billion over the past 15 years.Estimates of Apple’s app store revenue range from $15 billion to $18 billion annually. Apple disputes those estimates, although it hasn’t publicly disclosed its own figures. Instead, it has emphasized that it doesn’t collect a cent from 85% of the apps in its store.The commissions it pockets, Apple says, are a reasonable way for the company to recoup its investment while financing an app review process it calls essential to preserving the security of apps and their users. About 40% of the roughly 100,000 apps submitted for review each week are rejected for some sort of problem, according to Kyle Andeer, Apple’s chief compliance officer.Epic will try to prove that Apple uses the security issue to disguise its true motivation — maintaining a monopoly that wrings more profits from app makers who can’t afford not to be available on the iPhone.But the smaller company may face an uphill battle. Last fall, the judge expressed some skepticism in court before denying Epic’s request to reinstate Fortnite on Apple’s app store pending the outcome of the trial. At that time, Gonzalez Rogers asserted that Epic’s claims were “at the frontier edges of antitrust law.”The trial is expected to last most of May, with a decision to come in the ensuing weeks.
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China Acting ‘More Aggressively Abroad,’ Blinken Tells ’60 Minutes’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired Sunday that China had recently acted “more aggressively abroad” and was behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways.”Asked by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Blinken said: “It’s profoundly against the interests of both China and the United States to, to get to that point, or even to head in that direction.””What we’ve witnessed over the last several years,” he added, “is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact.”Asked about the reported theft of hundreds of billions of dollars or more in U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property by China, Blinken said the Biden administration had “real concerns” about the IP issue.He said it sounded like the actions “of someone who’s trying to compete unfairly and increasingly in adversarial ways. But we’re much more effective and stronger when we’re bringing like-minded and similarly aggrieved countries together to say to Beijing: ‘This can’t stand and it won’t stand.'”The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment on Blinken’s interview.On Friday, President Joe Biden’s administration said China had fallen short on its commitments to protect American intellectual property in the “Phase 1” U.S.-China trade deal signed last year.The commitments were part of the sweeping deal between former President Donald Trump’s administration and Beijing, which included regulatory changes on agricultural biotechnology and commitments to purchase about $200 billion in U.S. exports over two years.Blinken arrived Sunday in London for a G-7 foreign ministers meeting, and China is one of the issues on the agenda.In the interview, Blinken said the United States was not aiming to “contain China” but to “uphold this rules-based order — that China is posing a challenge to. Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and — and defend it.”Biden has identified competition with China as his administration’s greatest foreign policy challenge. In his first speech to Congress last Wednesday, he pledged to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and to boost U.S. technological development.Blinken said he speaks to Biden “pretty close to daily.”Last month, Blinken said the United States was concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force.The United States has a long-standing commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensure that self-governing Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to sustain peace and security in the western Pacific, Blinken said.Taiwan has complained over the past few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the island, which China claims as its own.
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Skaters, Cafes, Galleries: Flickers of Hope in Forgotten Thai Conflict Zone
Thailand’s southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia have been the center of an insurgency since 2004. Over 7,000 people have been killed — mostly civilians — caught up in the fighting between shadowy Malay-Muslim rebels and Thai security forces. But a new generation is determined to reclaim a space from violence. Vijitra Duangdee reports for VOA from Pattani.
Camera: Black Squirrel Productions
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Chad’s Military Names New Government; Opposition Rejects It
Chad’s military rulers named a new government on Sunday after the battlefield death of President Idriss Deby, but leading opposition figures rejected the appointments as a continuation of an old order they hoped to erase.Deby’s death last month on the front lines in a fight against northern rebels ended his 30-year rule and sparked a crisis in the Central African country that has long been an ally in the West’s fight against jihadis in the region.A military council run by Deby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power after he died and promised to hold elections within 18 months. Former colonial power France backed the council, but the opposition and rebels dismissed the takeover as a coup and said the military must relinquish power to a civilian-led government.Thousands took to the streets last week to protest the military rule. At least six people died in clashes with police. The opposition has called for a transitional government led by a civilian president with a military vice president.The majority of ministers in the new government held positions under Deby. His son is president. His ally, Albert Pahimi Padacke, was named prime minister last week.”It gives the impression of a house built starting with the roof,” opposition leader Succes Masra told Reuters. “This will not go far as long as we do not return to the foundations desired by the people: a civilian president, a (military) vice president.”Deby built international partnerships by sending his well-trained troops to trouble spots across the region to fight Boko Haram and other groups with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State.His main ally, France, has about 5,100 troops based across the region as part of international efforts to fight Islamist militants, including its main base in the Chadian capital N’Djamena.
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Puerto Rico Groans Under COVID Pandemic as Health, Economy Suffer
Puerto Rico seemed to be sprinting toward herd immunity this spring before people began letting their guard down against COVID-19 and new variants started spreading across the U.S. territory.Now, a spike in cases and hospitalizations has put medical experts at odds with the government, which is struggling to protect people’s health while also trying to prevent an economic implosion on an island battered by hurricanes, earthquakes and a prolonged financial crisis.”The difficulty here is how do you find a Solomonic decision … to give people the opportunity to work and be responsible and also maintain health as a priority,” said Ramón Leal, former president of Puerto Rico’s Restaurant Association. “These are hard conversations.”It’s a delicate balance for an island that imposed a lockdown and mask mandates ahead of any U.S. state and has some of the strictest entry requirements of any American jurisdiction — measures that helped contain infections before the latest surge.Overall, the land of 3.3 million people has reported more than 115,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, over 115,000 suspected ones and more than 2,000 deaths, with transmission rates inching up the last week of April to 28 cases per 100,000 people a day, compared with 17 per 100,000 on the U.S. mainland.The pandemic has unleashed the second-biggest economic drop Puerto Rico has seen since recordkeeping began in 1980, according to José Caraballo, a Puerto Rico economist. The biggest was caused by Hurricane Maria, which inflicted more than $100 billion in damage in 2017, with nearly 3,000 people dying in its sweltering aftermath.More than 30,000 jobs have been lost because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and at least 1,400 businesses have closed, Caraballo said — this on an island that saw nearly 12% of its population flee in the past decade and whose government is struggling with crushing debt that led it to file for the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2017.”I’m taken aback by what the people of Puerto Rico have had to endure,” Caraballo said.Many of those who remain are mourning over lost homes, jobs, businesses or loved ones.Luis Ángel Sánchez has two close friends in the intensive care unit and lost his father and son to COVID-19 in April 2020 less than two weeks apart. Sánchez got vaccinated in mid-March.”The vaccine will not erase the scars or heal my broken heart,” he wrote on Facebook that day. “It will not bring back my son. It will not bring back my father. They, along with the others who have succumbed to this monster will not have died in vain if we continue to do the right thing.”Sánchez said people should keep their guard up and exhorted the government to impose stricter sanctions on those not following COVID-19 measures.”It’s not over yet,” he said.Gov. Pedro Pierluisi has resisted tighter restrictions, saying that another lockdown would be too extreme and that things will keep improving and the island could achieve herd immunity by August: “The solution is vaccination.”More than 2 million doses have been administered on the island, with a robust 55% having received at least one shot and 27% two.While health authorities say they are relieved many are eager to get vaccinated, they note that some people who are not yet fully protected are disregarding restrictions that include a more than yearlong curfew.That and the presence of at least seven COVID-19 variants on the island are believed to be contributing to the rise in cases. Another factor, experts say, is a drop in testing from an average of around 7,000 tests a day to 2,000, a trend blamed on people becoming fixated on getting vaccinated.The fight against COVID-19 has also been complicated by a drain of medical talent to the U.S. mainland. The number of doctors in Puerto Rico is down to 9,000 from 14,000 in 2006, said Dr. Víctor Ramos, a pediatrician and president of the island’s Association of Surgeons. Similar drops have been seen among nurses and technicians.”Health professionals are exhausted, and they’re scarce,” said Daniel Colón-Ramos, who presides over a scientific coalition that advises Puerto Rico’s governor.Ramos and other health experts say the governor should temporarily ban indoor dining, a measure imposed last year. Currently, restaurants and other places are restricted to 30% capacity, but officials say the limit is hard to gauge and question whether it is even being followed.It’s an issue the government and business owners have clashed over repeatedly, with the industry insisting that it’s safer to eat at a restaurant indoors, given all the safety protocols, than in someone’s house.Mateo Cidre, the owner of four restaurants and bakeries, said the industry has not recovered from the nine weeks last year in which restaurants could only do delivery, carryout or curbside pickup. He suffered heavy losses and applied for a suspension of car and home payments.He criticized the government for not further loosening restrictions even when there has been a drop in cases.”They’ve never been flexible with us,” he said. “It’s been a very tiresome road.”Other industries also have been hit hard, with a $2 billion drop in retail sales last year, said Jorge Argüelles, former president of Puerto Rico’s Retail Association. Those being squeezed by the restrictions say the governor should impose tighter restrictions at the airports, where only about 30% of those arriving carry the required negative COVID-19 test. Several tourists have been arrested for lashing out at authorities after refusing to follow health instructions.A voluntary, 14-day confinement option was lifted on Wednesday, and those who don’t have a negative test face a $300 fine if they don’t present one within 48 hours. However, there is no system to fine them on arrival; it is up to people to voluntarily fill out a document online later so that they can be fined.”The thing I’m most anxious about,” said Colón-Ramos, who oversees the scientific council, “is thinking that there are people alive today who can be saved or can die depending on how Puerto Ricans behave.”
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‘We Won’t Sit and Watch:’ Mothers of Jailed Thai Activists Call for Their Release
Bound by unconditional love for their children and anger at the Thai state, the mothers of pro-democracy protesters detained for weeks without bail for allegedly defaming the royal family are keeping vigils outside the prison where their loved ones are being held. The vigils come as Thailand’s turbulent political landscape is rocked once more by a youth-driven protest movement demanding reforms to the entire power structure, including the previously untouchable monarchy, headed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Protests which drew tens of thousands late last year fizzled after key leaders were arrested, many under multiple charges of breaking the lèse-majesté law, better known as “112,” the harsh defamation measure which protects the palace from criticism. Each conviction under Section 112 of the Thai criminal code carries between three and 15 years in prison. The 10 core leaders have been held without bail, but more than 70 others have been charged with the offense since late last year, the youngest just 16 at the time he was charged. Rights groups say the law has been wielded like a hammer against protesters who revealed the fault lines between young and old, conservative and progressives in Thai society. “They have weaponized the law against my son,” said Sureerat Chiwarak, mother of one of the most vocal protest leaders, Parit Chiwarak – better known by his nickname “Penguin” — who faces more than a dozen charges under the law. Penguin, 23, has been held since February — but was transferred to a hospital over the weekend after a hunger strike which is entering its eighth week. “Even though he’s yet to be proven guilty by a court… they have killed his future. But as mothers, we can’t stop; we won’t sit around and watch them be jailed,” she told VOA News. On Friday, she shaved her head in protest outside a court, demanding bail from a legal system she says has kept her son in pretrial detention without justification. The next day, she joined four other mothers outside Bangkok’s remand prison, standing in front of life-size cardboard cut-outs of their children for a symbolic 112 minutes, with a large sign tied to the prison fence reading, “Give us our children back.” They shared hugs, clasped hands and wore t-shirts with photos of their children, touching acts of solidarity as the mass protests are reduced to hundreds by fear of the law as well as a recent rebound of the coronavirus. The group has been dubbed the “Ratsamoms” — the People’s Mothers — a spinoff from the Ratsadon People’s Movement, which has been protesting at courts and jails since March. “I don’t want my child to feel lonely,” said Suriya Sithijirawattanakul the mother of Panussaya (nicknamed “Rung”) the bespectacled 23-year-old who ignited the reform movement in August last year when she took to the stage with 10 demands including that the powers of the monarchy be kept within the constitution. “She’s been in jail for a long while now and she’s also on hunger strike. She deserves to be out on bail.” Power struggle Thailand is a divided kingdom. To royalists, led by the government of former army chief turned premier Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the youth movement overstepped the mark by calling out the monarchy. They revere the palace and cast the institution as above the political fray, although it runs the country in partnership with a military which has set back democracy movements with 13 coups since 1932. The lèse-majesté law had not been wielded since King Vajiralongkorn, Thailand’s immensely wealthy monarch, came to the throne in 2019. In November, Prayut warned protesters that he would “use every law” to squash a movement which demanded the palace abide by its constitutional role and decouple its support from the military. With the protest leaders facing months or years in detention, some observers say their mothers may be one of the final keys to reigniting the public conscience. “At the end of the day it’s just these mums who come out with no conditions, who will give everything for their kids,” Amornrat Chokepamitkul, an opposition MP who joined Saturday’s action at the prison. “I think they’re going to become a source of power for the movement,” the lawmaker said.
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Malawi Leader Announces Measures to Improve Conditions for Workers
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has announced reforms his administration will take to create better conditions and rights for workers in his country. Presiding over a commemoration for Internationals Workers Day Saturday at his State House in Blantyre, Chakwera noted that a decent work environment and workers’ rights are compromised in Malawi.Chakwera started the event by leading a solidarity walk within the State House premises with various representatives of workers’ unions in Malawi.In his speech, Chakwera said he is aware of labor-related challenges which have come about because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.“The fact is that the pandemic has been hard for all workers, costly for most workers, life threatening for many, devastating and fatal for some. And we must tailor our assistance to workers regarding these things without creating a false equivalence between the various scenarios. It makes sense to treat those workers as priority for personal and social protection,” he said.
Chakwera, who came into power in June following a rerun vote, announced reforms his administration will make to safeguard good working conditions for Malawian workers.
“In the new Malawi we are building, no worker should be paid below the new minimum wage ($62 per month) we have put into effect since I took office. In the new Malawi we are building, tenancy labor, forced labor and child labor will all be abolished. In the new Malawi were building, no foreign person who employs Malawians and mistreats them, will continue to have the privilege of living here,” Chakwera said.
Luther Mambala, president of the Malawi Congress of Trade Union, says the government should also address salary gaps between expatriate workers and local employees.
“If you have got the same qualification or even higher qualification than somebody coming from foreign countries, he will actually be getting more salary than you because you are a Malawian. We said it’s not a sin to be a Malawian. So, Malawians should be treated equality to that particular person and not all expatriates have got the expertise that Malawians don’t have,” he said.
Mambala added that the government should consider enacting legislation that would protect workers who are laid off because of situations like COVID-19. Employees from various industries within the private sector also shared difficulties they encounter in the workplace.Gladys Gondwe, who works for a manufacturing company in Blantyre, complained about working conditions.
“Workers like me from the private sector are exploited. They will give you work that they know you can’t finish at the specific time. So, you do the work and you add some hours, but they will say, ‘We don’t have that overtime policy.’ To me that’s exploiting workers,” she said.
Another concern, Gondwe said, is a lack of medical insurance for most workers in the private sector.
“It’s pathetic that workers will work hard but by the end of the day they will find it difficult to get medical help, so, if government could, make it mandatory for all private sectors [employers] to offer medical insurance to their workers,” she said.
Chakwera said the government is working on new labor laws that will address concerns raised by workers.
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