Introductio

The use of children as soldiers in armed conflicts is among the most morally repugnant practices in the world.Children are combatants in nearly three-quarters of the world’s conflicts.Yet moral reasons aside,compelling strategies are being continuously discussed and planned for limiting the use of child soldiers.A number of international laws and rules have been framed in this regard.

Today,it is against the international legislation that protects the rights of children to use children in warfare.Nevertheless it still remains a persistent issue in conflict-torn areas of the world. Children are used in direct combat, support roles like cooks and messengers, and as suicide bombers, to name a few duties—as child soldiers. 

Further the experts say,when conflicts involving children end, the prospects for a lasting peace are hurt by large populations of psychologically scarred, demobilized child soldiers.Also, countries that are more into recruiting  child soldiers  risk long-term instability as generations of youth are sucked into the wars.

Definition: What is meant by a child soldier?

Child Soldier: “A person under the age of 18 recruited either voluntarily or by force to participate in an armed forces group in any capacity”.

A child soldier is not just someone who is involved in fighting. They can also be those in other roles such as cooks, porters, messengers, human shields, spies, suicide bombers or those used for sexual exploitation. It includes children recruited and trained for military purposes, but not used in war.

A child soldier or a child associated with an armed force group, according to the Paris Principles in 2007,”is any person, 18 years of age or younger, who is or has been recruited or used by an armed group in any capacity” (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 2007).

Brief history

Child soldiers is not a new phenomenon and has  been a norm throughout history,accepted in almost all societies until relatively recently. History is filled with children who have been trained and used for fighting, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, used as sex slaves, or recruited for tactical advantage as human shields or for political advantage in propaganda.

World has seen several such cases in the past,for example,when Napoleon recruited thousands of  teenagers in his army, or when thousands of children were forced into different armies during the First and Second World War. 

Children continued to be used throughout the 20th and early 21st century in every continent, with concentrations in parts of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. It is only in recent times that international efforts have begun to limit and reduce the military use of children.

Reasons for recruitment of children

Children are and have been  recruited in all parts of  the world.They are recruited either by state armed forces(controlled by the government)or by non-state armed groups(armed groups outside government control) which  include non-state armed paramilitary organisations,using children, such as militias,insurgents, terrorist organizations, guerrilla movements, ideologically or religiously-driven groups, armed liberation movements, and other types of quasi-military organisation, for different reasons e.g 

• Multiple sources/reports claim that children are comparatively easy targets when it comes to radicalization,manipulation or intimidation,being one of the reasons why children are recruited as soldiers.Also as children are more obedient than adults and do not have a developed sense of danger,it is easy for recruiters to train and use children in any desired situation.
• In combat, children can be daring and tenacious, particularly when under the influence of drugs—a common practice—or when compelled by political or religious zeal. Child units can greatly add to confusion on battlefields, slowing opposing forces’ progress.
• In addition to  this,children do not  require many resources to maintain and thus are easily manageable.

 Many times children choose by themselves to become child soldiers. 

Giving away one’s childhood and  becoming  a  soldier in that age  is not some happy choice ,a child would make.There are several  reasons as to  why children choose this path for themselves and become soldiers like :

• Children who join voluntarily  often do not have a full understanding of the consequences of joining, or of the severity and danger of their tasks.Reasons children voluntarily choose to join militant groups may be many e.g, their families identify with a side of the conflict and they feel they are honoring their families and their countries by choosing to fight;a survival tactic where militant groups promise safety and a sense of family; they are promised some type of pay off; or they have a sense of vengeance for lived inequalities that they feel war can correct. 
• In many cases, children choose to join as a result of economic or social pressures.Being poor, displaced, separated from their families or living in a combat zone can make children particularly vulnerable to being recruited.

Roles of Child Soldiers

Child soldiers can take on a number of roles in armed conflicts and are recruited as young as the age of 8 ,any of them will be used in direct combat, as early as the age of 10, because modern assault rifles are easily managed by small children making child soldiers as useful and deadly in combat as adult soldiers.According to Singer,besides combat,common roles for child soldiers are patrolling and surveillance, scouting or spying, and prisoner guard. These traditional soldier roles are often taken on by boys more often than girls. Not surprisingly, given what we know about human and sex trafficking worldwide, girls who are recruited into armed conflict are more often used as sex slaves or taken as wives or mistresses by army leaders.Other roles may be to act as cooks,porters,messengers, suicide bombers etc. 

Global estimate and the current situation:

• According to the report of Child Soldiers International, 2019 the number of children involved in armed conflicts has risen 159% since 2012, with almost 30,000 verified cases of recruitment in 17 countries around the globe.The involvement of girls in armed conflict has more than quadrupled between 2017 and 2018, growing from 216 to 893 reported cases

• Report also states that fifty countries still allow children to be recruited into armed forces and that children under the age of 18 were still being recruited and trained for military purposes in 46 countries; of these,most recruit from age 17, fewer than 20 recruit from age 16, and an unknown, smaller number, recruit younger children.States that still rely on children to staff their armed forces include the world’s three most populous countries (China, India, and the United States) and the most economically powerful (all G7 countries apart from Italy and Japan).
• United Nations in 2017,identified 14 countries where children were widely used by such groups: Afghanistan, Colombia,Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
• In 2017, the UN Secretary-General’s annual “name and shame” list highlighted the armed forces of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for recruiting and using under-18s for armed conflict.But non-state armed groups also recruit children in these and other countries.The report said there were at least 4000 verified violations by government forces and over 11,500 by non-state armed groups in the 20 country situations it examined.
• Also,Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hired child soldiers from Sudan (especially from Darfur) to fight against Houthis during the Yemeni Civil War (2015-present).

Impact on children

“The child is recognized, universally, as a human being who must be able to develop physically, mentally, socially, morally, and spiritually, with freedom and dignity.”A child soldier,as against this,does not enjoy any of the mentioned rights or happiness in his life and lives a completely different life filled with horror,misery and violence.Acting as child soldiers affects children physically,mentally, emotionally,socially  and morally as well.

• The scale of the impact on children was first acknowledged by the international community in a major report commissioned by the UN General Assembly, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children (1996), which was produced by the human rights expert Graça Machel.The report was particularly concerned with the use of younger children, presenting evidence that many thousands of children were being killed, maimed, and psychiatrically injured around the world every year.In addition to injuries, child soldiers may face a variety of other health problems, including malnutrition, poor hygiene and health care, respiratory and skin infections, and punishment by physical abuse or deprivation. 
• Some armed groups force children to use drugs to desensitize them to violence and enhance their performance. Use of cocaine, amphetamines, and other stimulants is especially common. These drugs can cause lasting harm to the bodies and minds of child soldiers. Children leaving armed groups that force drug use may have a difficult time overcoming drug addiction and withdrawal.
• Moreover all child soldiers are vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation by others in the armed group. The risks are usually much higher for girls and the exploitation of girls is rising too. Sexually abused girls are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Girls are at risk of unwanted pregnancies. These pregnancies can be very dangerous for the girls, who are often mal-nourished, physically immature, and living in unsanitary conditions.
• In addition to the physical vulnerabilities they face, child soldiers’ social and psychological development is often damaged by their experience in the armed group. Children are routinely exposed to terrible acts of violence and brutality. 
• Research in Palestine and Uganda, has found that more than half of former child soldiers showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and nearly nine in ten in Uganda screened positive for depressed mood.Researchers in Palestine also found that children exposed to high levels of violence in armed conflict were substantially more likely than other children to exhibit aggression and anti-social behaviour.The combined impact of these effects typically includes a high risk of poverty and lasting unemployment in adulthood.

International laws and international efforts

International efforts at protecting the rights of children started in 1924 with the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

•  The Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child was just five Articles adopted by the League of Nations, stating that “mankind owes to the Child the best that it has to give, declare and accept it as their duty that, beyond and above all considerations of race, nationality or creed” (League of Nations, 1924, paragraph 1). Following this legislation, the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1959 which consisted of 10 principles to ensure for all children that “he [and she] may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his [and⁷ her] own good and for the good of society the rights and freedoms herein set forth” (United Nations, 1959, The General Assembly). Following these short declarations, in 1989 a 54-Article long Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified with thorough explanations of who is considered a child and the responsibilities of the state to ensure protection and education to children in their varying cultural and political contexts (United Nations, 1989).

• Then in 1997 Cape Town Principles,although not a legal document,were adopted.These principles represent an important consensus among major international NGOs and UNICEF and offer useful guidance in developing policy and programs that protect and support child soldiers. In addition to defining key terms, the principles provide a comprehensive overview of appropriate action related to the prevention of recruitment, demobilization, and reintegration of child soldiers.
• Later the 2009 list of the Six Grave Violations Against Children During Armed Conflict tried to expand the responsibility and efforts of citizens and governments on an international level to intervene in and prevent the recruitment of child soldiers, protect the rights of children, and to react to the engagement of children in warfare.(United Nations, 2002; United Nations, 2013; UNICEF, 1997; UNICEF 2007)
• The highest standard in the world is set by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which forbids state armed forces from recruiting children under the age of 18 under any circumstances.It further requires State Parties to protect civilians and ensure respect for all rules of international humanitarian law applicable to children in all armed conflict, including internal conflict.Most African states have ratified the Charter.

Role of UN

• The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and others have called for an end to the recruitment of children by state armed forces, arguing that military training, the military environment, and a binding contract of service are not compatible with children’s rights and jeopardize healthy development during adolescence.
• Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict:The already mentioned Machel Report of 1996 also led to a new mandate for a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC).Among the tasks of the SRSG is to draft the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, which lists and describes the worst situations of child recruitment and use from around the world. (Taken from “Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict”) 
• Security Council :The United Nations Security Council convenes regularly to debate, receive reports, and pass resolutions under the heading “Children in armed conflict”. United Nations Secretary-General In 2011 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised the issue of children in conflict areas who are involved in violent activities according to the Extreme Measures report.

Ground reality

Although international laws and principle,have undoubtedly been framed and adopted to restrict recruitment of child soldiers,but,surely the main factor that makes legislation effective is the consequences of violation.These documents, however, are declarations, proclamations, conventions, and statements of best practices. Therefore, only countries who are members of the United Nations, sign the optional protocol(OPAC), and subscribe to the ideas and articles presented in the other documents are expected to abide by them. While countries may be highlighted by human rights watch organizations, “shamed” by the UN secretary general, or other countries may refuse to engage in trade with them, there are rarely any concrete and legal consequences unless initiated and handed out by the governing state. 

Conclusion

Child soldiers are being utilized all over the globe and thousands of violations of international declarations occur every year. These violations are easiest to track through the United Nation Secretary-General’s report.The most important efforts to decrease and eliminate the use of child soldiers lie in getting more countries and non-state sanctioned military organizations on board with the Children, Not Soldiers campaigns and to pledge to prohibit military involvement for anyone under the age of 18.The countries,all over the world must strongly and effectively incorporate the international laws for protection of children in their domestic legislations.Yet,of course, the most effective way to stop the use of child soldiers is to end the conflicts in which they fight. “Child soldiers will be used by [warring] parties for as long as the war continues. There must be a political solution and conflicts must be resolved,as many as possible.

References

“Child Soldier International’s Annual Report (2018)”

“Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OP/CAC)”

“Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict”

https://theirworld.org/explainers/child-soldiers

https://theirworld.org/explainers/child-soldiers

Introduction

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with an area of 2.3m sq/km, is a giant of sub-Saharan Africa, bordered by nine other countries. DRC was formerly referred to as Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-LeopoldVille, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire. It is the 2^nd largest country in the African Continent after Algeria and the largest in Sub Saharan Africa with Kinshasa it’s Capital. It has been divided into 26 provinces.

The country has enormous mineral wealth – copper, diamond, gold, cobalt, etc., and potentially large reserves of oil and natural gas. Paradoxically, this resource-rich country is also the site of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The conflicts of 1996 and 1998 have resulted in massive disruption of the social, political, and economic fabric of the country. For over a decade the country has been mired in conflict with devastating effects on its civilian population. Though the parties involved within the conflict have their perspective regarding the cause and course of the conflict, nobody can deny that the region is in dire need of peace as well as sustainable development to break the ‘conflict trap’ that has brought miseries for all the conflict-ridden countries of the world including the ones in the African continent.

The costs of the conflict are self-evident. Besides death and destruction, large-scale displacement is an integral part of the conflict. Other humanitarian costs include a negative impact on women and other vulnerable groups, and there has been a noticeable increase in the post-trauma stress syndrome and the resultant psychiatric problems for the victims. The economic costs of the conflict cannot be confined to a particular sector of industry or investment prospects. It has affected the important sources of livelihood of the local people. 

Colonization and Independence

The colonization in DRC started in 1870 by King Leopold II of Belgium with the exploitation of natural resources, forced labor, mass killings, and widespread slave labor through his harsh rule for almost 90 years. The country witnessed a brutal colonization following a hue and cry internationally. In 1908, the Belgian parliament took over the Free State from Leopold following international pressure, and then it became the Belgian Congo, under the rule of the elected Belgian government. 

Patrice Lumumba was elected the First Prime Minister of the DRC in May 1960. But after a few months, the PM was overthrown by a military group led by Joseph Desire Mobutu with the help from the US and Belgium and was later assassinated in 1961.

Joseph Mobutu after overthrowing the PM Lumumba started a dictatorship for almost 36 years and during this period he renamed himself as Mobutu Sese Seko and renamed the country as Zaire and the country was known as Zaire from 1971 to 1997.

Origin of crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• The Mobutu Era and First Congo Conflict

During the tenure of Joseph Mobutu, a one-party system was established wherein elections were held periodically, with the incumbent head of the state as the only candidate. Mobutu was guilty of severe human rights violations and political repression. Corruption was integral to the system, and politicians became entirely dependent on Mobutu’s goodwill. He consolidated power by co-opting potential rivals and exploited the country’s vast natural resources. By the 1990s, the country’s economy was near collapse due to mismanagement, corruption, and authoritarianism. This overall dismal scenario and the later happenings in the DRC gave credibility to the stance that conflicts in Africa, including the one in the DRC, are due to ‘bad governance’.

Bad governance within the state accompanied by the external dimension i.e. the Rwandan genocide of 1994 laid the foundation of conflict in the DRC. Some of the militias responsible for killing thousands of Tutsis in Rwanda fled across the border to the DRC. This provoked Rwanda and Uganda to invade the Congo and finally, they invaded the DRC in July 1996.

The Allied Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (AFDL) under the leadership of Laurent Kabila and backed by Rwanda and Uganda ousted Mobutu in May 1997. The ascendancy of Kabila led to the end of the first conflict and the name of the country was restored to the DRC.

• Kabila Regime and the Second Congo Conflict

Kabila accused Rwanda and Uganda of the exploitation of resources and with the help of many countries overthrew Rwanda and Uganda out of DRC. The Lusaka ceasefire agreement (July 1999) and deployment of the UN peacekeeping force in 2000 attempted to end the hostilities between nations. However, the violence continued in DRC from 1998 to 2003. Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda fought Government forces supported by Angola Namibia attacked back resulting in the second Congo war. In addition to this, there was also a proxy war which continued till 2008 between Rwanda and Uganda.

Peace and Democratic Attempts

In 2001, President Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated and his son, Joseph Kabila, became the 1^st democratically elected president of the DRC. In the same year, the Inter-Congolese dialogue was initiated to set the stage for peace and democracy. After two years, the Pretoria Peace agreement paved the way for the installation of a transitional government with the aim of reunification, pacification, and reconstruction of the country, the restoration of territorial integrity, and therefore the re-establishment of the authority of the state throughout the national territory. As a result, the Transitional Government came into being. A new constitution was adopted in 2005 and after one year elections were held. Joseph Kabila was elected the President, and a new government was formed. Despite all these events, the violent activities did not come to a complete halt. The Eastern provinces, specifically the Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Katanga remained unstable while rebel groups continued to fight among themselves and with the government.

Optimism for a permanent peace came after the Goma agreement was signed in  2008. However, the non-inclusion of the FDLR ((Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) in the talks and the government’s pledge to disarm the rebels has cast doubt over the prospects of permanent peace. In Ituri (it is one of the 21 new provinces of DRC that was created in repartitioning), the risk of renewed violence is limited by the presence of the MONUC (United National Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo), the dismantling of the majority of armed groups, and therefore the local population’s war-weariness. However, the success of Congo’s reconstruction would depend on effective ways to address the persisting root causes of the conflict –unequal access to land and unfair sharing of revenues from natural resource exploitation.

Consequences of the crisis

• Killings and Displacement

The people of the DRC have suffered immensely throughout the colonial times and in the post-independence era. The continuation of exploitative colonial legacy by the leaders of the independent DRC brought a trail of death, destruction, and underdevelopment for the people. The ongoing conflicts have aggravated the situation. It has claimed numerous lives and plunged the resource-rich country into chaos and acute underdevelopment.

12 year old amputee Kakule Elie, hit by a stray bullet, lies in a bed in a hospital in Goma in 2012

Photos: Crisis escalates in DR Congo

The United Nations in 2005 described the crisis in Eastern Congo, as the ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis.’ Since 2000, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has documented the humanitarian impact of conflict through mortality surveys. The first four studies, conducted by IRC, estimated that 3.9 million people had died since 1998. About 10 percent of all the deaths were due to violence and 90 percent were due to diseases like malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition. The fifth survey, concluded that 5.4 million deaths have occurred between 1998 and 2007, with as many as 45,000 people dying every month.  As with previous IRC studies in the DRC, the majority of deaths have been due to infectious diseases, malnutrition, and maternity-related problems. In 2007, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs put the figures of internally displaced persons at 1.16 million. The UNHCR put the figures for Congolese refugees in the neighboring countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda at 310,000. A Human Rights Watch report has accused DRC‘s neighboring countries of committing abuses both economically as well as physically.

The M23 group is fighting the DRC military for control of the country, and the violence is driving tens of thousands of Congolese out of their homes.

Photos: Crisis escalates in DR Congo

• Impact of crisis on Women and Children

The most vulnerable to the Congo crisis are women and children. Displacement increases women’s risk of sexual violence. Many children lose access to education. While the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) works to integrate all displaced children within the DRC into a national education system, many of the schools still lack the resources necessary to effectively support the staff and students. UNHRC is on the ground providing life-saving humanitarian support to millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in the DRC.

A displaced Congolese woman carries her belongings as she enters a United Nations base in Monigi, 5 Km from Goma in 2012.

Photos:Crisis escalates in DR Congo

According to Jeanie Bandu Bahati (coordinator of an organization that promoted development, gender, and peace) held that there is a catastrophic and chaotic situation in DRC with women and girls confronted by permanent displacement, massacres, human trafficking, rape, kidnapping, house burning, etc.

According to a report by the International Rescue Committee, since the end of the 1^st war in DRC in 1998, at least 5.4 million people have died. Due to hunger, diseases, violence, and displacement every month 45000 Congolese die (half of them are children).

Eastern Congo is the world’s worst place for women. Rape in Congo exists on a scale seen nowhere in the world is used as a weapon of war. Rape as a weapon of war had destroyed women, families, and communities.

The United Nations peace-keeping forces too have been accused of adding to the woes of the people. According to a 2007 report of the Human Rights Watch from December 2004 to August 2006, around 140 allegations of sexual exploitation involving United Nations personnel were recorded in Congo. 

• Economic Implications

The conflicts have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, and increased external debt. Foreign business houses have curtailed operations due to an uncertain atmosphere, lack of infrastructure, and a non-conducive and difficult work environment. There has been an increase in unemployment. A country rich in natural resources has become one of the least developed countries. The infrastructure in terms of road density, electrification, and water supply remains poor.  The country is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and a major producer of copper and diamond but the resources of the country have been a curse and brought misfortunes for the natives and all the benefits have gone to the outsiders. Resources have been used to fuel conflict and not to get people out of poverty. In 2007, the Human Development Index ranked the country at 168 positions out of a total of 177 countries. 

The unstable situation has provided a fertile ground to the stakeholders to exploit the natural wealth of DRC with impunity. A United Nations report published in April 2001 pointed out that all the parties involved in the conflict profited by looting resources of DRC. The overall situation hence remains fragile and poverty is all-pervasive. 

The DRC is emerging from a decade of political instability and violent conflict that has led to the near-collapse of the economy, and caused the annual per capita income to plummet to $120 in 2005 (down from $380 in 1985). Experts have described this as ‘development in reverse.’ The country has the second-largest swath of rainforests in the world. With 86 million hectares of area covered by rainforests, the DRC accounts for over half of the total remaining rainforests in the Central Africa region. Congo forests are a vital resource, both for the Congolese people and the global environment. About 40 million Congolese depend on the forests for their food, income, energy, shelter, medicines, and cultural needs. Described as the ‘second lung’ of the planet for their ability to store carbon dioxide on a global scale, these Congolese forests too have been threatened by widespread poverty and instability in the region.

International response

The UN and various International communities have been greatly involved in seeking a resolution to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict, specifically in the past decade.

• Human Rights Council (HRC)

In the HRC Report 2012, the HRC referenced Resolution 19/27, which was adopted in March 2012. The resolution encouraged the establishment of a national Human Rights Commission in the DRC, and asked the High Commissioner of Human Rights to submit a report in 2013.

• United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

In October 2010, the OHCHR released a report on the DRC entitled “DRC: Mapping Human Rights Violations 1993-2003”. The report notes the serious incidents of Human Rights abuses. OHCHR also addressed the issue of sexual violence in its 2011 report entitled “Remedies and Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence in DRC”. The report highlighted how victims of sexual violence are often responsible for bearing the cost of harm done to them, and asked the Congolese Government to implement a reparations fund for victims of sexual violence.

• International Criminal Court (ICC)

In 2004, the then-president of DRC (Kabila) referred his country to the ICC and the former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally announced his decision to open the first-ever ICC investigation into the crimes committed in the DRC.

In 2012, former Leader of the Union Des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), Thomas Lubanga, was convicted of war crimes and child soldiers, and was subsequently sentenced for 14 years in jail.

• United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

The most crucial element of the UNSC’s intervention in the DRC has been its authorization of two missions to the country. First is the United Nations Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) that was established in 1999 following the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement. MONUC was succeeded in 2010 by United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO), aimed to better protect civilians and address issues that were raised during the MONUC period, including the sexual abuse by United Nations Peacekeepers.

Regional Response

• Southern African Development Community (SADC)

In 2008, the members of SADC (heads of state) agreed to immediately deploy a team of military experts to assess the escalating violence in the country, as well as an additional team to evaluate the situation on the ground.

• International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the February 2013 Framework Agreement

Congolese President Kabila used the ICGLR as a platform for discussion by convening a series of meetings. The Peace Agreement that was signed in 2013 by Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, the DRC, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia was negotiated by UNSC with ICGLR. The Agreement emphasized issues of sexual violence and displacement, among other Human Rights abuses, and noted that progress begins with the cessation of violence. 

At the country level, the DRC agreed to work towards decentralization and further structural form. Regional players promised to respect not only one another’s sovereignty, but to also increase cooperation between states.

Conclusion 

The political situation in the DRC is bad. The extreme violence in the country is from the very beginning but the violence in the country exacerbated due to the failure of holding the presidential election constitutionally. The governance problems have an immediate impact on the humanitarian situation. Ultimately, the spirit of democracy not guns must rule the DRC, and improvements in governance should be the primary focus of all the local, regional as well as international actors in their efforts to help the long-suffering people. To avoid the return of the conflict the reconstruction process has to accompany initiatives to control violence. The DRC needs global assistance to make a speedy economic recovery and to ensure that the fruits of the development are distributed equitably. There is an urgent need to address the disparities among different communities that inhabit the country and promote democracy and rule of law, which can combat corruption and promote good governance. Without an integrated approach that involves national and international institutions, the return to chaos is imminent as shallow peace may not be sustainable. The continued and genuine efforts by local, national, and international actors that work in tandem can be the only way out for the country to experience genuine democracy and prevent a return to chaos. 

The Government of DRC to create a conducive climate for dialogue must ensure that human rights and rule of law will be respected and the justice system will be ceased as a political tool. The political prisoners at the first instance should be released and the persons subjected to harsh violence to be rehabilitated. 

The persons who have been forced to flee to different areas must be provided with humanitarian assistance and ways must be carved out to end this conflict which is in DRC for years now. The humanitarian condition of women in the country can be described as degrading and chaotic. The condition of women folk has worsened in the last two decades. There needs a revision of protection, security, socio-economic and political factors to uplift the condition of women and children in DRC.

References 

• “Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: An ongoing crisis,” International Rescue Committee, New York, 2008
• Human Rights Watch World Report 2011: Democratic Republic of Congo, New York, April 2001
• “Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Global Conflict Tracker, 2020
• “Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect
• “DRC Refugee Crisis Explained,” UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, 2020
• Seema Shekhawat “Governance Crisis and Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo” 2009

Introduction 

On a December day in 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, stood in front of a Government office and set himself on fire, killing himself. Bouazizi had been harassed by cops who attempted to shut down his business with no recourse, and his suicide by self-immolation galvanized Tunisian protesters. His actions helped spark a revolutionary uprising that has come to be known as the ‘Arab Spring’. Protesters demonstrated against Government corruption and Tunisia’s autocratic president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. A month later, after 23 years in power, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

“A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

~Fidel Castro

This raised hopes among millions of other citizens within the neighboring Arab countries. Thus, within a short period, the protests spread to other countries like Algeria, Libya, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, and some other Gulf countries. The demands of the protesters varied from country to country but in general, it included demands for political freedom, social freedom, press freedom, improved human rights conditions, economic betterment, etc. The demands reflect a desire among the masses, particularly the new generation of young and educated, to be liberated from the reins of the old and authoritarian leadership and play a role in the decision-making process of the state. So far, the protests have overthrown four long-serving dictators — Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen. While the Bashar Al Assad regime in Syria is struggling for its survival, other countries have successfully managed to suppress the protests against the regimes either by a crackdown or by promising economic and political reforms.

Why the name ‘Arab Spring’?

The name “Arab Spring” is a reference to the 1848 Revolution- also known as the “People’s spring” – when political upheavals swept Europe. Ever since, the word “spring” has been used to describe movements towards democracy like Czechoslovakia’s 1968 “Prague Spring”. Western media started popularizing the term “Arab Spring” in 2011.

Who was Mohamed Bouazizi?

Mohamed Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor from the village of Sidi Salah. Bouazizi was three years old when his father died. In the village in his small room, he was educated with his six siblings. To provide basic needs and necessities to his family he left education in his early teens but always dreamt of completing high school. He was the sole earner of the family besides supporting his mother, uncle, younger siblings. He applied for the military but was rejected.

In December 2010, Bouazizi (who was now 26 years old) was getting ready to sell fruits and vegetables. He was stopped by police for not having the necessary permit to sell products. He was humiliated by Faida Hamdy, a female police officer who allegedly slapped him, confiscated his weighing scales, and pushed over his cart. He requested the return of scales to the Governor but was however rejected. Governor even refused to see him despite his threats that he would burn himself.

After his request was turned away, he marched to a Government building and set himself on fire. Before setting himself on fire, he shouted “how do you expect me to make a living”. Although people tried to save him, he was having 90% burn injuries on his body. The President of Tunisia came to see him in the hospital and promised that he will send him to France for treatment but no such transfer was arranged. After remaining 18 days in a comatose state he died in January 2011. Thousands attended his funeral and pledged to avenge his death.

Aftermath of Bouazizi’s death

• Tunisia 

After the self-immolation of Bouazizi, the Tunisians took to streets and began demonstrating which was captured by cell phone cameras and shared on the internet. Western Media started popularizing it as ‘Arab Spring’. Within days, protests started popping up across the country, calling upon President Ben Ali and his regime to step down. A brutal security crackdown followed, reported in shocking details by online social media. When protests reached the capital, Tunis, the government responded with even more brutality, arresting demonstrators, activists, and shutting down the Internet. This act marked the end of one of the Arab world’s most repressive regimes. It was a victory for people power and perhaps the first time ever in history that an Arab dictator has been removed by a revolution instead of a coup d’état.

About a month later, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia. A democratic free election was held to choose members of the council in which all the Tunisians participated. The members were given the task of drafting a new constitution and the democratically chosen Prime Minister and President took oath and office.

Tunisians protest outside the gates to the French Embassy in Tunis. Arab Spring began in Tunisia when a fruit vendor set himself on fire in protest in front of a government building.

Photograph: Fethi Belaid /AFP/Getty Images

After Tunisia protests began to spread to other countries like Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain.

• Egypt

In late January of the same year (i.e. 2011), massive protests broke out in Egypt only after a few days of the ouster of Ben Ali’s in Tunisia. To control protests the Egyptian government started cracking down violently against the demonstrators. After several days of massive demonstrations and clashes between the security forces and protesters in Cairo and around the country, a turning point came when the Egyptian army announced that it would not use force against the protesters and started calling for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. After military withdrawal support, the president left office after nearly 30 years, and the senior military officers ceded to the power.

Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military. In Tahrir Square, downtown Cairo, Egypt, in 2011.

PHOTOGRAPh: TARA TODRAS-WHITEHILL, AP

A great role played by the military in ending the Mubarak regime has led the new military administration to enjoy high public approval. However, the new administration appeared hesitant to transfer full powers to an elected government and the use of force was resumed by military and security forces against the protesters. In late November 2011 despite this multiday outbreak violence, the parliamentary elections were held and after a year People’s Assembly- a newly elected assembly held its inaugural session.

An Egyptian armoured personnel carrier covered in anti-Mubārak graffiti in Cairo, 2011.

Photograph: Monasosh

After the rapid successes in protest movements in Tunisia and Egypt, the protest movements took hold in Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and Syria.

• Syria

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the civil war began that lasted for several years, forcing many to leave Syria to seek refuge in Turkey, Greece, and throughout Western Europe. For a time, the militant group ISIS had declared a caliphate (a nation that is governed by Islamic Law) in northern Syria. This group has executed thousands of people there, and many others fled the region in fear of their lives.

Although the ISIS group has largely been defeated in Syria, yet the oppressive regime of long term dictator Bashar al Assad remains in power in the country. The infrastructure of the country has suffered significant damage, and the conflict has devolved into tribal warfare.

Protesters burn images of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2012, protest. 

Photograph: John Cantlie/Getty Images

• Libya 

In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi (authoritarian dictator Colonel) was overthrown in 2011, during a violent civil war. He was tortured (literally dragged through the streets) and was executed by opposition fighters. However, since his downfall, Libya has remained in a state of civil war, and the two opposing governments rule separate regions of the country. During the years of political upheaval, the civilian population has suffered significantly, with violence in the streets and access to food, resources, and healthcare services severely limited.

A rebel firing a gun in the heavily contested city of Ajdābiyā in eastern Libya, 2011. The graffiti on the side of the truck reads, “Army of Libya.”

Photograph: Anja Niedringhaus/AP

This has contributed to the ongoing worldwide refugee crisis, which has seen thousands of Libyan fleeing the country, most often by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, with hopes of new opportunities in Europe.

• Bahrain

The reforms in Tunisia and Egypt prompted the other countries to rise against the dictatorship, corruption, and other issues. In February 2011, Bahrain Human Rights activists and members of Bahrain marginalized Shiite majority protested and demanded the political and economic reforms in Bahrain. The Bahrain security forces along with forces from Saudi Arabia and UAE violently suppressed the protestors. Dozens of accused protest leaders were imprisoned; hundreds of Shiite workers fired and Shiite mosques in dozens were demolished by the government aftermath protest. An independent investigation commissioned by the Bahraini government concluded that excessive force and torture has been used against the protesters by the government. The government assured to act on the report in which recommendations for reformation were included.

• Yemen 

In Yemen, the first protest appeared in late January of 2011. President Ali Abd Allah Salih’s base of support was damaged when a number of the country’s most powerful tribal and military leaders aligned together with the pro-democracy protesters calling for him to step down. But they failed to remove Salih from the power. In June, he was injured in a bomb attack and he left Yemen to receive medical treatment, raising hopes among the opposition that a transition would begin. Four months later when Salih returned to the country added to the uncertainty and confusion about Yemen’s political future. He signed an internationally mediated agreement in November of the same year in which he agreed for a phased transfer of power to the then-Vice President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. Accordingly, Hadi took over governing responsibility and formally assumed the Presidency after standing as the sole candidate in a presidential election in 2012.

Yemeni demonstrators calling for President ʿAlī ʿAbd Allah Ṣāliḥ to step down.

Photograph: Hani Mohammed/AP

Social Media and Revolutions

Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and mobile telephones played a major role in spreading information and serving as a mobilizing tool for spontaneous and organic gathering of protesters during Arab Spring across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region in early 2011. Images of Tunisian protests against social and economic inequities and the regime’s oppression of people, which were widely shared on social media and through mobile telephone devices, inspired and created anti-government protesters in other countries in the region. Authoritarian regimes have often cut off access to the Internet to quell the protests; though they have failed to stop them.

Tweets, texts, videos, blogs, and Facebook pages became the most effective communication and mobilizing tools for young Arab demonstrators. Social media was key to shaping the political debate of the Arab Spring. Political discussions and calls for change happened not only inside Arab states, but also across borders of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Social media conversations of protesters in Tunisia and Egypt were continued in other countries. And thanks to the Internet, social media, and mobile phones, images and conversations of protests quickly reached the world, erasing global information borders. 

Although digital technology has been a powerful tool for political and social mobilization, this tumultuous and chaotic decade in the Arab world showed that no real change will happen if repressive regimes are more bent on killing their citizens than making any compromise. If before 2011 the authoritarian governments in MENA have not fully understood how to use social media, by the end of the decade they have skillfully weaponized digital media to spread misinformation and propaganda to maintain control and smear and discredit dissidents, shut down the Internet when it suits them, and intimidate and jail online activists in hopes to curb dissent. Social media became a double-edged sword for forces seeking positive change and maintaining the status quo.

Impacts of Arab Spring

• Climate Change

MENA is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world to climate change. Shortages of freshwater, drought, desertification, extreme heat, and dust storms have already shown the region’s climate trajectory during this decade. Climate change was a contributing factor to the Arab Spring. Crop failures, food shortages, and higher food prices worsened the living conditions of the masses, forcing many of them to move within and beyond the borders of their countries in pursuit of a better life. 

According to a study published in the Global Environmental Change journal, there was a strong connection between climate change and conflicts in MENA between 2010 and 2012. For example, severe droughts in Syria between 2006 and 2011 decimated agriculture and caused a major migration of farmers to cities. Competition over scarce resources worsened the living conditions of Syrians, who began demanding change from their government.

Subsequent protests against corruption, poverty, and the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad started one of the most brutal civil wars of the 21st century, which continues to this day. Over these years, power shortages under extreme heat have triggered mass unrest in Iraq and Egypt. 

Instability and conflict in MENA will be closely tied to climate change in the coming years. German research organization, the Max Planck Institute, predicts that daytime temperatures may reach and stay at 50 degrees Celsius throughout each year in MENA by the end of the century. According to its findings, large areas of MENA may become unlivable by then, if global emissions of greenhouse gases are not reduced.

• Mass Migration

The most prominent feature of the past decade was the start of an enormous global refugee crisis. By the end of the decade, there were more refugees than after the end of World War II. The Syrian war created some of the worst refugees’ crisis in the world. Almost 6 million Syrians fled their country since 2011, and more than 6 million remain internally displaced. 

The largest number of refugees in Europe have come from Syria. However, despite the spike in the number of asylum seekers in Europe, the biggest burden of helping refugees has fallen in developing countries with weak economies and fragile social stability. 

Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan received the highest numbers of refugees from Syria in proportion to their populations. Besides, Lebanon and Jordan host more than 2 million Palestinian refugees. Refugees continue to put stress on the social and economic stability of these three countries. More developed and rich Arabian Gulf countries could do more to help refugees in and from MENA than they have done so far.   

• Sectarian Divisions

One of the most defining events in MENA this decade was the deepening Sunni-Shia schism, intensified by ideological competition between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. During this period, Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the leader of Sunni Muslims, has stepped up its efforts to contain the growing influence of Iran in MENA. 

The competition between these two countries over spheres of influence has exacerbated regional hostilities. Saudi Arabia and Iran turned the civil conflicts in Syria and Yemen into protracted bloody proxy wars with no end in sight. Iran’s disproportionate influence on Iraq and the powerful Shiite militia group Hezbollah in Lebanon has also inflamed internal tensions in these countries. 

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar in 2017 and imposed a complete blockade on it for its alleged close ties with Iran and for “support of terrorism.” The blockade is still in place. Partly because of these events, Qatar withdrew from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2019, after a sixty-year membership. 

Being the world’s major exporters of oil and gas and members of OPEC, Saudi Arabia and Iran have also clashed over the direction of OPEC’s energy policy. Iran often opposed Saudi Arabia-dominated OPEC oil prices and the decision to coordinate prices with non-OPEC countries, such as Russia, which now commands a major influence on the oil cartel. 

While Saudi Arabia and Iran continue their bitter regional rivalry through proxy wars, exchange accusations about attacks on strategic objects – such as oil tankers and oil facilities, and supply arms to various militia groups in the region, they have avoided having a direct confrontation so far. With no signs of abating, the Saudi-Iranian cold war is likely to exacerbate the sectarian divisions in MENA for years to come. 

Conclusion

The Arab Spring protests started in the Middle East because of the repression of people and their rights, the insistence of regimes on a monopoly of power and refusal of regimes to accept the transition power principle through elections, as well as poverty, corruption, unemployment and marginalization of ethnic and youth groups. Arab dictatorships disgraced their own people and their arrogance went far enough. They used to pass reign by inheritance to their sons. They exploited the resources of the countries and shared it between their family members, friends, and relatives while the common people left in underdevelopment and poverty.

The power of peaceful protests and mass demonstrations through uprisings and the ability of social media had fuelled the protests and communicated its goals to the world. The uproar, turmoil, and tumult of the Arab Spring have shown the rest of the world that millions of people in Islamic nations believe in democratic government and free expression. 

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia for 20 years, Mubarak reigned in Egypt for 30 years, and Gaddafi held Libya in a tight grip for 40 years. Yet their bravest challengers were 20-30 years old without ideological baggage, violent intentions, or clear leadership. The groups that initiated and sustained protests had few meaningful experiences with public deliberation or voting and little experience with successful protests. However, these young activists were politically disciplined, pragmatic, and collaborative.

The revolution that started in Tunisia spread strongly to five countries. Now against the government, the citizens have the freedom to speak without any reprisal and democratic elections are taking place. The protests, demonstrations, uprisings try to put an end to the repression of free speech, and economic mismanagement, human rights abuses, and corruption.

The Dictators in Yemen, Libya, and Syria launched a war against their own people. No one can predict what will happen as the war is still on in Syria but one thing is clear that the people have come out in massive protest and have broken the barrier of fear. The protestors started peaceful protests however rulers confronted it by massive and excessive force and violence. Libya, Yemen, and Egypt have proven that it will not be an easy task to say where these revolutions are heading.

The revolutions of the Arab Spring are inspiring revolutions worldwide. The failure of the West system and the double standard policy of the West have encouraged the Arabs to adopt the modern pragmatic Islamic approach and discourage the adoption of western values.The game of the west replacing the dictators of the past with the new ones will not survive for long. And finally the masses, the young generation have promised and learned lessons and they will not give up until they achieve their all the basic and human rights.

This has brought the region a novel contour – a wave of protests for democratic reforms in an otherwise authoritarian Arab world. The regime change also carries with it the potentials of change in policies towards the neighborhood and beyond. Throughout the uprisings, the major regional countries have fought political and diplomatic wars among themselves aiming to assert their influence over the region. The outside powers have taken the opportunity to strengthen their interests by intervening in the conflicts. 

But the prospect of democracy within the region has receded. Most regimes have been able to keep at bay, at least for the time being, the calls for change. The expectations from the movement turned out to be overambitious. Arab spring is now commonly referred to as Arab winter (reflecting the failure of protest movements to bring about change within the region). Democracy may not have come fully to these countries as expected, yet the region has nevertheless changed dramatically in the last three years. The regimes have survived, but there is no surety how long they will survive. The internal and external environment has changed. 

References

• “Arab Spring Pro-democracy protests” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015
• “The Arab Spring: A Year of Revolution” NPR, 2011
• “The Arab Spring” History, 2018
• Saltanat Berdikeeva “The Arab Spring and its Aftermath: A Review of the Decade”2020
• Erin Blakemore “What was Arab Spring and how did it spread?” 2018

Introduction

South Sudan, officially referred to as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It got independence in 2011 from the Republic of Sudan becoming the world’s newest country. After almost nine years of gaining independence, South Sudan should be a country full of hope but instead, is in the grip of a massive humanitarian crisis. 

Political conflict, compounded by economic woes and drought, has caused massive displacement, raging violence, and dire food shortage. The ongoing conflict and insecurity have pushed millions to the brink of starvation for years. In 2017, famine or near-famine conditions were reported in some countries and South Sudan was one among them. In February 2017, famine was declared in South Sudan, and has remained a persistent threat since. 

When did the hunger crisis start in South Sudan?

South Sudan gained independence in 2011 from the Republic of Sudan. In 2005,  a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), also known as the Naivasha Agreement was signed between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. This agreement ended more than two decades of war between rebels in South Sudan and the Government in Khartoum. Amidst the signing of the CPA and independence, South Sudan made important progress in state-building. National and State governments were formed along with the institutions that are necessary to ensure the rule of law.

According to the World Bank, they made certain social and economic progresses like:

• The number of children enrolled in primary school increased six-fold between 2005 to 2012 from 300,000 to 1.8 million.
• Infant mortality decreased by 25%.
• The number of skilled midwives grew.
• Polio was eradicated.

Unfortunately, this celebration was short-lived. The ruling political party (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement) that originally led the way for independence is now divided and fighting for power. After two years of its independence, it plunged into conflict. In December 2013, this political infighting erupted into violence in the streets of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, after South Sudan’s current President Salva Kiir accused its vice president Riek Machar of an attempted coup and the fight started between two factions of the Government. Violence spread like wildfire in South Sudan, displacing thousands of civilians who rushed to seek refuge in U.N bases and this fight is continuing, becoming an increasingly brutal civil war and affecting the entire country. 

In 2015 after peace negotiations, both parties signed an Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS). Unfortunately, this agreement did not end the violence, which has spread across the entire country, now splintered along ethnic, political, and regional lines. The conflict has affected nearly everyone and raised deep economic and social problems in the country.

Source: Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLEDP) 2018

The ongoing conflict and insecurity have pushed millions to the brink of starvation for years. In 2017, famine was declared there. Famine crisis has destroyed everything in South Sudan like crops, health centers, and other required necessities of life. People there are without food and the economy has collapsed. Women and children are most vulnerable to the effects of food insecurity, malnutrition, and conflict. 

Famine was declared officially in 2017 when people have already begun to starve to death. It is the diplomatic equivalent of a seven-alarm fire. Food shortage and famine in South Sudan are not sudden occurrences like the earthquake in Haiti and flooding in Indonesia but are rather a result of the prolonged and slow process of combined factors. Famine in the region is not caused  by climate changes but it is the result of deeper structural and geopolitical anomalies. The maxim is true that famine does not result purely from natural causes but is “man-made”. Such a description, however, avoids any real accountability for those that have caused the crisis. South Sudan famine would be more accurately described as the “government made”. The most immediate cause lies within the tactics employed by the South Sudan government and its principal Rebel opponent in fighting the war. 

Government and Rebel forces attack civilian areas much more than they attack each other. They target means of survival of civilian populations deemed to be unsupportive. The government has also concentrated attacks on areas where agricultural production traditionally fed large parts of South Sudan, not only leading to massive human displacement but also devastating local grain production which leads to hyperinflation in food prices.

Source: WFP, 2018

What’s happening in South Sudan now?

A handful of peace agreements between the current President Salva Kiir and the former rebel leader Riek Machar have been signed over the course of the war – the most recent in 2018 –but they have been repeatedly violated. While reported incidents of conflict have decreased somewhat since the new deal, the situation in South Sudan remains highly unstable and outbreaks of violence continue. Relatively small numbers of people have started to return home in light of the tenuous peace agreement, but new displacement remains high. Those affected are struggling to survive after years of protracted conflict that has destroyed livelihoods, forced people from their homes, disrupted planting and eliminated critical coping resources, like savings and livestock.

Many humanitarian organisations, including Mercy Corps, are working with the UN, using both private contributions and funding from the international community, to address the urgent needs of people in South Sudan.

Effects of Conflict

One of the worst hunger crises of the past 25 years was the famine in East Africa in 2011/2012.

Following a power crisis that erupted in 2013, South Sudan has spiraled into a conflict, which has spread across most parts of the country and resulting in the death of tens of thousands of people. The ongoing conflict that has engulfed the country of South Sudan, results in high food prices, economic disruption and low agricultural production. Due to these reasons, the UN and the Government of South Sudan were forced to declare famine in 2017.

Famines are an acute food crisis, usually after drought or due to armed conflict. Famine is the worst form of food shortage. In addition to old people, babies and small children are especially threatened by starvation. According to United Nations definition (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), there is a famine if at least: 20% of households suffer from extreme food shortages, 30% of the population is acutely malnourished; and 2 out of every 10,000 people, or 4 children, die daily from food shortages.

Food insecurity in South Sudan as of September 2018.

Source: WFP, 2018

Hunger anywhere can have long-term, debilitating consequences, but it can be particularly threatening during a complex crisis just like the one in South Sudan. When people go hungry, they have trouble staying healthy and become more susceptible to dangerous diseases. Their bodies are not as strong or productive as they could be, which makes it difficult for them to work, find food, and keep their families safe at a time when they urgently need the strength to do so.

Children’s development is also seriously impacted by hunger. Without proper nutrition, they don’t hit critical developmental milestones, which may permanently inhibit their ability to find out and function for the rest of their lives. Hungry children don’t learn as well, and they are also at a higher risk of disease.

Nyaguande, 4, lives with her family in a displacement site since fleeing attacks at their home. More than half the populations of uprooted South Sudanese people are children. 

Source: Image from Mercy Corps

According to United Nation Agencies, this conflict has pushed South Sudanese into hunger. Nearly 60% of the population (6.1 million people) has been pushed into extreme hunger. Children there are at imminent risk of death from malnutrition. Children who survive malnutrition in early childhood face lifelong damage to their health and their physical and cognitive development. Even short bouts of hunger and malnutrition carry long-term cognizance.

According to Jeremy Hopkins, the South Sudan representative for the UN Children’s Agency, more than 2,00,000 children were at risk of death from malnutrition in the country. 

The World Food Programme reported that 67% of the South Sudanese population (4.9 million people) needed food urgently, and at least 100,000, according to the UN, were in imminent danger of death by starvation.

According to the Action Against Hunger report, conflict pushed more people into hunger in 2018, and malnutrition rates remained high. Two million people were initially displaced, and 2.3 million people have become refugees. The country is marked by excessive gender-based violence, declining economic opportunities, and strained health centers. Half of the children are not attending schools, and two-thirds of the population has no access to safe water.

South Sudanese children fleeing from recent fighting in Lasu, Central Equatoria, stand in church after crossing the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Photograph: Simona Foltyn/Getty Images

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, many families have exhausted every means they have for survival. The people were predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. They have lost their livestock, even their farming tools.

According to Mercy Corps, more than 3 million people had been displaced by ongoing violence across the country, forcing families to abandon agricultural land and livestock to survive with few food resources. Over 4 million people – 1 in 3 – have been forced to flee their homes due to this brutal war. Nearly 2.5 million have fled to neighboring countries. There are now 1 million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, making up about half of the country’s total refugee population.

There were significant challenges for agencies delivering food in famine-affected areas. Civilians reported that the food they received was taken by soldiers involved in the fighting. 

Angelina and her children fled their home when their village erupted in violence. Having left everything behind, they survived by eating water lilies until being reached with food assistance.

Source: Image from Mercy Corps

Economic and Human costs of conflict

South Sudan has very fertile soil and significant oil deposits. Its economy is dependent on exporting oil. Oil is nearly all that South Sudan exports. It generates about 60% of the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In 2016, South Sudan’s oil-dependent economy faced multiple major shocks including the eruption of conflict in capital city Juba, disruptions in agricultural production, and a significant drop in international oil prices. The poor performance of the economy triggered several economic crisis, cost of necessities, particularly food skyrocketed. The price of staple foods, such as Sorghum, maize, and beans, are at record highs.

The human cost of the conflict is enormous. The World Bank estimates that poverty has risen significantly from 44.7% in 2011 to 66% in 2016. Poverty is so deeper than in the period before the conflict. According to the World Bank, there is significant gender disparity, indicating few educational opportunities for the generation of women. Male literacy is 40% while the female literacy rate is only 16%. Other indicators of poverty include high infant mortality rate and high maternal mortality rate.

Who is most affected by this crisis?

Women and children are disproportionately impacted by the conflict in South Sudan. The majority of the population of the United Nations displacement sites is made up of women and children, with more than 60% of South Sudanese refugees being under age 18.

Additionally, sexual violence towards women and girls is pervasive. The United Nations recently reported a surge in sexual attacks, including women and girls experiencing abuse during raids on their homes. The people committing these crimes are rarely held responsible. 

To make the situation even more difficult, women and girls continue to bear the burden of family caretaking even during crisis. In the face of increased violence, recurring displacement and loss of livelihoods, daily tasks like collecting water and firewood make them continual targets for attack.

How is the Hunger Crisis being tackled in South Sudan?

It is widely acknowledged that the South Sudan food emergency is man-made. Human actions particularly the proliferation of Armed factions and military groups continue to make humanitarian response extremely difficult and restrict access to markets, farms, and medical services. However, there are national as well as international organisations who are working to mitigate the impact of the hunger crisis on the lives of south sudanase. Some of the organisations which are working in tackling the hunger crisis in South Sudan are:

• United Nation Agencies

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and World Food Programme (WFP) called for a sustainable peace across the country, and unhindered, safe access to all areas where people who survived the fighting but are left without nothing, and need life-saving assistance. According to Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF’s Representative in South Sudan, more than 80% of children treated recover, which makes it even more urgent to access those who have suffered the most as a result of the fighting. UNICEF and partners have admitted 147421 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition into various outpatient treatment programs (OTP) and stabilization centers since January 2018. So far, FAO supported 1.4 million farmers with agricultural seeds and tools during the main planting season so that they can increase cereal production. During the planting season, FAO distributes over 4,800 tons of crop seeds. WFP provides life-saving emergency food supplies, food in return for work to construct and rehabilitate community assets, food for school meals, and special products for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition in children, and pregnant and nursing women. So far in 2018, WFP has reached 3.1 million people with 30,000 tons of food.

• Non-Governmental Organization

Oxfam has a strong and established team working tirelessly from 10 bases across the country, providing essential services and helping to keep people alive. According to them, we are working in South Sudan to deliver timely and effective humanitarian aid to help people affected by the conflict. It is currently supporting over 5,00,000 people with humanitarian assistance including clean water, hygiene facilities, food, fuel, and income support. 

• Government Initiatives in tackling the crisis

The Government of South Sudan is particularly concerned about hunger among South Sudanese school-aged children, many of whom rely heavily on free meals provided in schools. School meals for students in South Sudan are mainly provided by WFP, the same U.N. agency sounding the alarm over the potential famine. But WFP is only able to reach close to half a million students, against a total of 3 million to 3.5 million students.

In 2018, WFP and the South Sudan’s government (Ministry of Education) launched a five-year strategy that aims to shift the current school meal set-up from relying on imported food to increasingly using produce grown by local communities. The government is looking at external support to plug in additional resources, and aims to increase its allocation for school meals. 

In 2018, a Peace Agreement, R-ARCSS (Revitalization Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan) was signed between the current President Salva Kiir and the former rebel leader Riek Machar. As a result, Machar rejoined the Government and resumed his Vice President duties. This deal certainly offers a promising end to South Sudan’s conflict. 

President Kiir also signed a declaration (Khartoum Declaration of Agreement) with the leaders of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), giving amnesty to the troops, army generals, and leaders of SPLM. The amnesty included Vice President Machar also and was an important gesture showing Kiir’s commitment to moving on from the senseless war.

Conclusion 

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country has the world’s highest rates of population growth and maternal mortality, and less than 30% of the population is literate. The country has abundant natural resources, but less than 200 miles of paved roads.

The Peace Agreement 2015 which was viewed as a milestone towards ending the conflict unfortunately the violence continued in South Sudan instead of this agreement.  The conflict which began with a political dispute will not be resolved by simply reconciling rival political leaders. The manipulation and atrocities committed by combatants against civilians are likely to have long-term effects.

The world must do everything it can do to treat the symptoms of this emergency but much attention is to be paid to address the root cause of the crisis. The situation in South Sudan is desperate and urgent. The fact that the crisis is man-made means that it is within human power to end it. Currently, millions of lives can be saved which are on the verge of starvation. But the window opportunity is very limited. Humanitarian aid alone cannot end the conflict, nor can it fully respond to the devastating impacts of conflict on individuals, their livelihood, and national economies that linger for decades. But taking a sustainable approach by investing in integrating development efforts such as social protection and social safety can reduce the risk of recurrence of a lethal upcoming crisis. The new approach must prioritize safeguarding livelihoods and institutions as well as saving lives.

The country’s most immediate need is to end the brutal and senseless conflict that has displaced more than one third of the population so that people can return to their home and resume farming to prevent additional periods of near famine conditions. South Sudan’s refugees should receive the same support and attention as refugees from elsewhere. Refugees are an international responsibility; which has to be shared. The refugee protection regime is enhanced through dedicated international cooperation, in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing among all states.

References 

• Oxfam “6.3 million people facing hunger crisis in South Sudan” (2018)
• Mercy Corps “The facts: What you need to know about the South Sudanese” (2019)
• UNICEF Report “Conflict pushes South Sudanese into hunger- more than 6 million people face desperate food shortage” (2018)
• The Guardian “Hunger is killing me: Starvation as a weapon of war in South Sudan” (2018)
• The Washington Post “South Sudan’s government-made famine” (George Clooney and John Prendergast) 2017

Introduction;

 Every welfare state is duty bound to come to the rescue of an oppressed class by the enactment of social welfare legislations or legislations aiming at positive discrimination. During ancient times, the laws at place were not sufficient enough to fully protect the rights and interests of women folk. However, with the advancement of society, this gender was also recognized and accepted as equally important and for their protection various laws were enacted but soon were those welfare legislations   misused by some chronic and wicked accusers who impose allegations on some innocent persons for material, emotional or social gains.

Such laws aiming at maintaining balance and equality in the society may be misused by any person against any other person. However, most of the cases of such nature are filed by a woman against a man but that does not mean, allegations are not levied against a woman under the grab of protection provided by such laws. 

Impact of false accusation of sexual violence

The issue of intensity of false accusation and allegations of sexual assault may be regarded as the major controversial dispute which affects the phenomenon of retaliation for violence against women. On account of the presumption of Law, every Accused is deemed to be innocent until the offence is proved against him but the reaction of society in such cases is that, without giving heed to the legal process of proving the offence and having faith in Judicial system, people start victimizing such person and treat him with hatred and humiliation which unfortunately makes his mixing in the society difficult, affects his employment his personal life and hence hurdles his rehabilitation.

 The result of this accusation is that it has got tremendous devastating and destructive impact on the Accused even when the allegations do not lead to criminal sanctions vitally because once the person is accused of this offence, he is deemed to be convicted even before his guilt is proved in the court of law. 

Role of media.

 Media plays an important role whenever someone is accused of any sexual violence related case, which ultimately worsens the trauma and humiliation. Media has the potential to highlight any issue and to circulate it in such a way that the person(s) involved in such issue becomes known to everyone and when the person so involved is accused of an offence, it puts his/her emotional, mental, physical wellbeing at stake within no time.

Whenever any person is accused of any such offence, media uses its potential to put the accused in non-judicial trial by circulating his pictures and amplifies the audacity of the problem meanwhile without considering its pros and cons as a result of which it becomes very difficult for him to reestablish his damaged reputation.

 For this reason mainly, most of the accusation are falsely levied so that the Accuser may on one side, attain attention, publication or any other material gains and on other side the Accused may be humiliated and that he/she may suffer losses of whatever nature. 

Causes of false accusation.

False accusation of sexual violence is reporting of the offence of sexual violence when no violence has taken place, the causes of false accusation falls broadly into two main categories;

False memories: Which may occur because of and is not limited to, recovered memory therapy, memory conformity and victims confusion; or,

Lies: The person claiming to be a victim may implicate any person alleged of an offence into false accusation of sexual violence to satisfy her personal grudges and may have several other motivations for such allegations.

An accuser may have following motivations behind such false allegations; 

• Revenge: The accuser may do so with the aim to damage the reputation, finances and freedom of the alleged accused.
• Material gain: It may be done with the aim of obtaining material benefits, professional promotion or to receive money.
• Attention: The Accuser may sometimes do so with the aim of receiving attention of any kind.
• Producing an alibi: This allegation may sometimes be used to cover up any other behavior like being late or absent to an appointment.
• Sympathy: It may be done by the Accuser for the purpose of seeking special kind of attention so as to improve a personal relationship with an individual.
• Relabeling: Sometimes the consensual sex is relabeled as Rape either because of family pressure or because of its shameful character and hence the false complaint.
• Regret: It may so happen that sometimes after a consensual sex, because of shame or negative feelings, the Accuser either willfully or because of pressure of others may file a complaint against the alleged Accused.

Scenario in Asia:

The problem of false accusation of sexual violence is prevalent everywhere but considering Asia, it can be said that the feminist or #MeToo moment has tremendously gathered the gravity and has been misused in such a manner that men usually avoid mixing with women for fear of false accusations.

In Asian countries marriage is considered as pious and is usually related to religion. However, marriages are another social aspect of such allegations. First the allegations hit the domestic life of person, his/her spouse is the worst effected and the relationship takes a serious beating  Like, With the rise of Feminism in China, #Metoo moment gathered importance but this moment was soon misused by the Accusers. The first #Metoo case in China which may be regarded as one of the most important cases in Chinese history was that of Ms. Wang who accused her former boss for sexually harassing her. But the outcome of this trial was that, at the end, it was Ms. Wang who was required to defend herself.

Though the stringent laws have been enacted so as to prevent crime against women but a dishonorable trend of filing false cases is prevalent in Asia, rendering the laws dealing with the protection of women and aiming at gender justice as a tool of manipulation. Hence the definition of Feminism has in fact become fascism.

 The devastating impact of this new trend of false accusation is that it weakens the legitimate object of Feminism. The women who file false and frivolous cases get support of such groups who actually help the women genuinely victimized. Since it’s usually a woman who files such a false and frivolous case against a woman or a man and thereby compromises the object of achieving the equality and mutual comprehension between genders, sought to be achieved by such groups and hence it delegitimizes the efforts of Feminism altogether.

For instance A shocking statistics has been presented by the Delhi commission of women which shows that 53.2% of the rape cases between 2013 to 2014 in Delhi were false.. The fact that the cases so filed with the police authorities are half true and half false brings into light the fact that the rectification of the society has materialized changes in that aspect.

Current situation

 The innocent Accused are gaining some conscious and becoming somewhat aware about the possible way outs and hence we can see few cases of defamation against accusers or those involved in their humiliation however, the idea of defamation lawsuits is yet to be discovered fully as there is very less awareness about it and even if some people are aware about it, they dare not to file such law suits for fear of tough procedure of proving ones innocence in such cases. 

Hence, it can be said that though there are accusers ready to misuse the feminist moment, #Metoo moment or any other moment that actually aims at bringing about the gender equality, the innocent accused persons are gathering courage to challenge such allegations and prove the truth. 

Scheme of law 

When we look at the laws and the punishments related to sexual offences, we realize that very strict law has been kept in place and very stringent punishment provided for the same but while framing those laws, no regard has been given to the fact that if such a law gets misused what will be the way out. 

No direct law dealing with the offence of false accusation of sexual violence has been passed by any country in Asia but the shield can be taken under the umbrella of provisions dealing with defamation.

For instance, the Defamation law in India which provides a remedy to the innocent Accusers runs as follows:

In case of filing  any false complaint or presentation of a false evidence so as to prosecute an innocent person or if any such intention exists, following charges can be framed against the Accuser in India under Indian Penal Code:

Section182: False information with intent to cause public servant to use

His lawful power to the injury of another person;

Whoever gives to any public servant any information which he knows or believes to be false, intending there by to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby cause, such public servant-

 (a)To do or omit anything which such public servant ought not to    do or omit if the true state of facts respecting which such information is given were known by him, or

(b)To use the lawful power of such public servant to the injury or annoyance of any person, Shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term Which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one Thousand rupees, or with both.

Hence, if a person has provided any Information to the police which is false and has deliberately Provided to the police in order to trigger wrongful proceedings on to the Other person out of vengeance so as to cause mental harassment to the said person, he shall be dealt with by mandating a punitive quantum which may extend to 6 months.

Section186: Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions

Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his

Public functions shall be punished with imprisonment of either

Description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine

Which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.

Section191: Giving false evidence.

Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or by an express provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, is said to give false evidence.

Section192: Fabricating false evidence.

Whoever causes any circumstance to exist or makes any false entry in

Any book or record, or makes any document containing a false statement, Intending that such circumstance, false entry or false statement may appear in evidence in a judicial proceeding, or in a proceeding taken by Law before a public servant as such, or before an arbitrator, and that such circumstance, false entry or false statement, so appearing in evidence, may cause any person who in such proceeding is to form  an opinion upon the evidence, to entertain an erroneous opinion touching any point material to the result of such proceeding, is said “to fabricate false evidence”.

Section193: Punishment for false evidence

Whoever intentionally gives false evidence in any stage of a judicial proceeding, or fabricates false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and Shall also be liable to fine, and whoever intentionally gives or fabricates False evidence in any other case, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section195: Giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure

Conviction of offence punishable with imprisonment for life or

Imprisonment Whoever gives or fabricates false evidence intending thereby to cause, or Knowing it to be likely that he will thereby cause, any person to be Convicted of an offence which by the law for the time being in force in India is not capital, but punishable with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of seven years or upwards, shall be punished as a person convicted of that offence would be liable to be punished.

Section196: Using evidence known to be false.

Whoever corruptly uses or attempts to use as true or genuine evidence

Any evidence which he knows to be false or fabricated shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave or fabricated false evidence.

Section199: False statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence.

Whoever, in any declaration made or subscribed by him, which Declaration any Court of Justice, or any public servant or other person, is bound or authorized by law to receive as evidence of any fact, makes any Statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be False or does not believe to be true, touching any point material to the Object for which the declaration is made or used, shall be punished in the Same manner as if he gave false evidence.

Section200: Using as true such declaration knowing it to be false.

Whoever corruptly uses or attempts to use as true any such declaration, Knowing the same to be false in any material point, shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave false evidence.

Section211: False charge of offence made with intent to injure.

Whoever, with intent to cause injury to any person, institutes or causes to be instituted any criminal proceeding against that person, or falsely Charges any person with having committed an offence, knowing that there is no just or lawful ground for such proceeding or charge against that person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

And if such criminal proceeding be instituted on a false charge of an

Offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for Seven years or upwards, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be Liable to fine.

 Section 340 of Code of Criminal Procedure,

The law States that there are two conditions subject to which a complaint can be filed against a person who has given false affidavit or false evidence in a Proceeding before a court. 

Firstly, the person has given false affidavit in a Proceeding before the court and, 

Secondly, in the opinion of the court, it is expedient in the interest of justice to make, an enquiry against such a Person in relation to the offence committed by him.

Furthermore, a notice is issued to certain police officers under this section for an enquiry to determine if false evidence was fabricating record and Putting up a false case.  Besides, the person may also be charged with the civil liability of wasting the time of police.

Likewise, the law directly dealing with false accusations of sexual violence has not yet been enacted in China and the remedies are sought under the Defamation Laws. However, the Chinese defamation law is not specifically spelled out as such, but has been developed from Articles 101 and 102 of the General Principles of the Civil Law (enacted in 1987), and several subsequent supporting documents: the Supreme People’s Court’s Answers to Certain Issues Concerning Trials of Cases Involving the Right to Reputation (released in 1993), Understanding an Application of the 1993 Answers, Interpretation of Certain Issues Concerning Trials of Cases Involving the Right to Reputation (released in 1998), and Understanding and Application of the 1998 Interpretation.

As explained in the 1993 Answers, defamation exists if

1. The defendant has committed an illegal act, 
2. The plaintiff’s reputation has been damaged, and
3. The illegal act caused the damage.

 Such defamation exists in three circumstances:

• Written or oral insults or libel that damages a person’s reputation;
• Unauthorized disclosure of personal information that damages a person’s reputation; or
•  A news report containing “gross error” that damages a person’s reputation.

In Understanding and Application of the 1993 Answers, the SPC clarified that truth was NOT a defense to defamation. If a work insults and damages a person’s reputation, it is defamatory regardless of whether it is true.

The 1993 Answers state that either the allegedly defamed person or their close relatives (defined as spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren) have standing to sue. That rules out almost anyone alive from 1950 onward as a character that can be included without fear of liability.

Similar is the case with other Asian countries  where Defamation laws are resorted to in case of false accusations of sexual violence. Hence it can be said that there is dire need for the Asian countries to come forward and enact direct laws in order to fully protect the basic human rights of wronged persons.

Modus operandi 

Be it a man or women, dignity is something which is precious to everybody and if a person falsely accuses another person of any sexual offence, his victimization is going to prove humungous. Usually the responses to alleged sexual offences becomes erroneous in the absence of witnesses when the court has to rely entirely on the statement of complainant and corroborative forensic evidences  which Is largely impacted by the prevailing cultural discourse and preconceptions about sexual predators and their victims.

Furthermore, the value to be attributed to the statement of alleged Accused will be lesser than the value and importance attributed to the statement of supposed victim even in cases where the evidence only consist of testimony from the alleged victim and is strongly rebutted by the alleged perpetrator, the moral imperative not to let down another victim or to leave a possible sex offender free to cause further harm may be compelling (Webster, 1998; 2005). Though evidence and conduct does provide a light on the correct state of affairs but the problem arises when the act that was initially consensual but was purported to be non-consensual.

Conclusion

When we look back at history, we see every possible reason for enactment of such laws that provide for positive discrimination and for the emergence of the movements like feminism, #MeToo movement, formation of women’s commission and the like.

But by and by not only does a woman misused this law against a man but there are some cases where it has been misused also against a woman and hence this is the law that has been used for gross violation of the basic human rights in general and the right to dignity, life, health and prosperity in particular.

Laws which are there, for easy access to women can easily be misused, for some of the notorious women do not resist the temptation of teaching a lesson to the male members for some personal motives and hence file false and frivolous cases against a man and the same trend is observed in anti-dowry law which is being misused to such an extent that it has been termed as legal terrorism.    

There are plethora of cases where man are falsely implicated under women centric laws which lead to public humiliation, torture and extortion and what magnifies  this suffering is the delayed proceedings. 

Therefore, there is dire need of speedier remedies in such cases with the system of checks and balances to be introduced so as to prevent misuse of such laws and this is the right time for the government of all the countries to introduce suitable amendments to such laws so as to prevent its misuse and safeguard the rights and interest of innocent accused persons. Hence need of the hour is to have such a balanced system where women are protected and men are not unnecessarily harassed.

Introduction

Data privacy is of greater importance in a world with ever-growing mountains of big data. During the earlier times, the consumers used to share their personal information or data via the offline platform where the chances of data privacy risks were minimal, however, with the growing technology, the consumers in this digital age share their vital information on the online platform, be it on social media sites, E-commerce sites and other Apps to perform certain kind of actions.

The concept of data privacy in this modern era is usually applied to critical personal information also known as Personally Identifiable Information. Such information is used for the purpose of identification of any person like the driver’s license number, bank account number, passport number, etc. and Personal Health Information in a medical record used for the identification of any person which was disclosed, created, or used in the course of providing a health care service. Of late with such a sensitive and personal data record, it becomes challenging when it attempts to use the data while protecting an individual’s personally identifiable information and privacy preferences.

Digitization of Services

While the consumers are sharing personal data on online platforms that collect growing amounts of information on the one hand, they have started visualising the danger in such data collection on the other hand. Data privacy has become more important in this digitalized world and those platforms collecting the vital information of an individual should be highly concerned with their data privacy policies. 

Data Privacy

Primarily, privacy is the Right of a citizen of being free from public scrutiny or from having one’s personal information shared. Data Privacy is the right of the citizen to have control over how one’s personal information is collected and used. It deals with the practices which ensure that the data so shared by any person must be used for its intended purpose.

Most of the time, Data privacy is confused with Data security and is used interchangeably however, data privacy and data security are, by no means, the same terms.

Like, if you are using a Google Gmail account, your password would be a method of data security, while the way Google uses your data to administer your account would be data privacy.

Data security is a prerequisite to Data privacy therefore it is possible to have healthy security stand without addressing data privacy. However, it is not possible to ensure Data privacy without a solid security stand.

Data Privacy and Data Security

Data Privacy a Real Major Concern

  In this age of digitization, personal data influences a lot of our activities. It affects nearly everything including from what content or messages we see on the internet to so many decisions made whether it’s about a job, a license, or a loan and thereby sway almost every aspect of our lives. Since the autonomy and control over our lives are one of the hallmarks of freedom which would be rendered useless if the important decisions about our lives are being made without our participation which might turn out to be one of the reasons which give rise to data privacy concerns.

Various types of personal information that often come under privacy concerns may be listed as follows;

Financial Information

Any financial information which is shared online or offline is sensitive as it can be used maliciously by someone to commit fraud. In 2019, First American Financial Corp. had 885 million records exposed online including bank transactions, social security numbers, and more.

Data about an individual’s financial transaction like the positions held in stocks and funds, outstanding debts, amount of assets, and purchases is usually sensitive. The person concerned could be the victim of identity theft or fraud if the criminals get access to such information. Similarly, data about a person’s purchases can reveal a great lot of information like the medications used, places visited, contacts, activities, or habits. This data may also be used by the corporations for the purpose of targeting the individual concerned with marketing customized towards the personal preferences of those individuals which the person concerned may or may not approve.

Internet Privacy

In the modern era, where most of the information is shared online be it on social networking sites or other Apps, people experience growing concern about privacy challenges. With the use of various search engines and data mining, it has become possible to collect and combine information from a wide variety of sources very easily.

For instance the Aadhaar Data Breach:

In 2018 there was a massive breach In India allowing access to private information of Aadhaar holders, exposing their names, their unique 12-digit identity numbers, and their bank details along with the photographs, thumbprints, retina scans, and other identifying details of nearly 1.1 billion citizens.

One of the most worrisome issues of today’s world is the ability of a third person to control the information one reveals over the internet and who can access that information, whether Email can be read or stored by third parties without consent if websites one visited can collect, store and possibly share the personal information, whether third parties can track the websites that someone visited, etc.

Locational Privacy

Depicting Locational Privacy

Locational data is the most sensitive data being collected by tracking capabilities of mobile devices which have the potential to strip away locational privacy from individuals, making it possible to intrude into the lives of others by consulting location databases. In 2017, McDelivery leak disclosed home addresses and even exact coordinates of 2.2 million users.

By tracking the locational information, potentially sensitive professional and personal information like the presence of a person at an abortion clinic, an AIDS counselor, attendance of a religious place, etc. could be exposed which unfortunately poses a threat to locational privacy.

Medical Privacy

Depicting Medical Privacy

Confidentiality and privacy are essential to all trusting relationships such as that between a doctor and a patient. Patient confidentiality and protection of privacy have always been the basis of the doctor-patient relationship. People usually do not prefer that their medical records be revealed to others because of the fact that it may affect their medical insurance, employment, and that it may bring embarrassment upon them.

Medical privacy may include information relating to physical and sexual activity, genetic data, bodily functions, psychological problems, etc.

In 2018, the healthcare sector saw 15 million patient records compromised in 503 breaches, three times the amount seen in the previous year, according to the Protenus Breach Barometer.

Educational Privacy

In earlier days, photocopies, textbooks, and filmstrips supplied the entire educational content to the students. However, with the advancement of technology and telecommunications, the education system has greatly changed and a new system including personalized content, virtual forms of interaction, and interactive technologies has been introduced.

 Though the adopters of these technologies have proved their worth by transforming the educational process however, the use of high-tech education systems has proved to be a double-edged sword. Using information systems like Arcon and portal, tools like Microsoft Office and Google, educational Apps like Edmodo and Dropbox exposes the student data to a number of security and privacy risks. Technologies like information sharing, telecommunication innovations, and web-hosting also expose the information related to students to risks during their use.

In 2020, cybersecurity firm Cybele discovered at least 530,000 zoom accounts listed for sale on a dark web hacker forum for $0.0020 cents.

The data relating to students so exposed or improperly disclosed can cause significant harm to students where students may indulge in violating each other’s privacy like online gossip, cyberbullying, etc. Besides, it can also result in a misunderstanding between schools and parents, alumni, applicants, and others.

Data Privacy Risks

As personal information has become the subject of a digitized world, the risks of cyber attacks have increasingly posed a threat to data privacy. The data privacy risks have the tendency to cause a data breach when a cybercriminal infiltrates a data source and extracts confidential information. While most data breaches occur due to hacking or malware attacks other methods include accidental data sharing, employee data theft, internet fraud, etc.

The most common data breaches occur due to the following risks:

• Accidental Data Sharing 

Personal data is usually exposed by cybercriminals however, sometimes the company’s own employees accidentally share and misplace consumer’s sensitive data resulting in the data breach. For example in 2018, hundreds of Australian’s personally identifiable information and health information we’re exposed to the public after an employee accidentally shared some sensitive data with an organizational outsider.

• Employee Data Theft

The data theft by a departing employee is a bigger threat than that of a hacker. It occurs most frequently when an employee leaves or resigns from an organization to work for a competitor or to set up their own rival company. For instance, Levandowski in 2019, stole diagrams and drawings related to simulations, radar technology, and Light Identification Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), source code snippets, PDFs marked as confidential, Videos of test drives, and Marketing information from Google and provided it to Uber.

Most commonly the data theft includes stealing of customer information, financial records, Email list, process document, employees records etc.

   • Ransomware 

Ransomware attacks have been becoming grave as the years pass by. Ransomware is the form of malware that encrypts the victim’s file. The attacker then demands the victim to restore access to data upon payment. In order to retrieve the basic data hostage and to restore affected data, most of the organizations agree to pay the ransom to the attackers. 

 As witnessed in 2019, the ransomware attacks have vastly affected sectors like health care, manufacturing, finance, etc. As a response to this many companies has put forth ransomware prevention as a priority in 2020.

• Bad Password Hygiene 

Account passwords should be such so that they are difficult to guess and harder to crack. An overwhelming number of passwords may lead to poor password hygiene when there is no technology in place to help.

Reusing and sharing of passwords has remained a common practice in most businesses among the employees resulting in countless data breaches and individual account takeovers.

The incidents leading to poor password hygiene may include selecting passwords that are obvious, selecting the same password for each account, temptation to share passwords with others for convenience, and writing down the passwords for easy recall, etc.

• Phishing Emails 

A phishing attack is a cyber attack that uses disguised email as a weapon to lure the victim with an attempt to obtain sensitive information like usernames, passwords, and credit card details. It manipulates the victims into performing certain actions like clicking on a malicious link or willfully disclosing the information. 

• Internet Frauds 

The main aim of internet fraud usually is to deceive the victim or to otherwise take advantage of them by stealing the information. such information can be used for financial gain by making fraudulent transactions, draining bank accounts, etc. which may result in significant reputational repercussions and increase the risk of class action lawsuits. 

one of the oldest internet fraud examples is Nigerian Email scams. Someone from a country (often Nigeria, but not always) contacts you via email in broken English. They explain that a rich person they know has died and the money has nowhere to go; if you can help them get the funds out of the country, they’ll give you some as a reward

The most prominent internet frauds are online shopping frauds, email scams, identity theft, tax scams, lottery frauds, matrimonial frauds, etc.

• Bribery 

Bribery mostly results in serious data security concern to those companies whose data and intellectual property is incredibly of high value. 

 Though bribery is not the most convenient way to perpetuate data, however, the officials of a company can be bribed into revealing the company’s confidential data. In 2018, the employees of Amazon were accused of participating in a bribery scheme that compromises customer data, and a year later it was discovered that AT&T employees received bribes to plant malware on the company’s network.

How important is Data Privacy?

Data is an incredibly important part of a company’s asset, collecting and sharing of data can be a big business in today’s digital world but for a business to safely and successfully take advantage of data they are collecting, they need to have safeguards in place to ensure that data is under tight lock and consumers are not subject to uninvited surveillance. 

In this age of digital economy, true company value lies in the collected customer data which is an asset, worthy of being protected. The importance of data protection increases as the amount of data created and stored continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Any information stored digitally needs to be properly protected right from financial information and payment details to contact information. Data protection is not only a legal necessity but crucial for protecting and maintaining the business also.

Data privacy importance lies in the fact that individuals are able to maintain their autonomy and individuality over how their personal information moves into the economy and society. The right to privacy is the fundamental right of an individual so he is at liberty to protect his data and regulate its use.

 Data Privacy Tips:

While the new decade promised an unexplored revolution in the field of Information Technology which has blurred the lines between the real world and the virtual one, it becomes vital for people to be more concerned about their privacy.

Some tips that may help to create a friendly environment for commerce, learning, and communication are listed as follows;

• Use a Safe Search Engine

It’s possible that sometimes a person can be scammed easily by fake engines leading one to fake pages that look like true intended sites. So if one intends to search an online retailer, instead of searching him through the search engine, one should directly visit the secure https:// page or use the App launched by such retailer. 

• Use Two Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication is a higher level of security process than the single factor authentication method in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves. It adds an extra layer of security by making the logins extra secure and difficult for hackers to hack sensitive information. It confirms the identity of a person by using two factors one is the password and the other is the security token or a biometric factor, such as fingerprint or facial scan.

• Anti-Virus Software 

The updated Anti-virus software program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware can better protect sensitive data from being hacked. It not only safeguards from malicious files and viruses but also helps to protect personal information.

• Use a Digital Vault

Digital Vault is an online vault that protects the information inside it by securing the data from all major risks over the network. It provides great help in securing all the necessary information like a credit card, social security, driving license, passport numbers, etc.

• Use a Safe Wi-Fi Environment

The public wifi is inherently less secure than that of the personal one because the number of connections is not known. One should always avail of the safest security protocol to avoid data theft or privacy issues while on public wifi. For this purpose, one can use a secure VPN that hides the IP address and encrypts the information over the web.

• Limited Information on Social Media

For the protection of personal data, one should avoid personally identifiable information to be shared on social networking sites which could be later used as answers to security questions. The social media privacy settings should be updated to limit the information collected by different sites and who can see the information.

• Strong Passwords

One should always create strong passwords by making use of capital letters, lowercase, numbers, special characters and change them often. The stronger the password, the more difficult a threat will be. 

How much are the Countries Concerned?

In order to address the data privacy issues like data theft, phishing email attacks, ransomware attacks, etc. almost every country around the Globe has enacted data privacy legislation under their municipal laws. These laws govern the rules and regulations for the collection, storage, and use of collected data in a legitimate manner.

Some of the privacy laws around the world are as follows:

1. CCPA 

California Consumer Privacy Act / USA 

Officially in effect on January 1st, 2020, this legislation demands the companies to inform the user of data processing, take extra measures to protect user information, and allow users a say in what data is collected and how it is shared.

2. CALOPPA

The California Online Privacy Protection Act/ USA.

This Act requires commercial websites to post privacy policies detailing data collection and use on their website.

3. CFAA

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act/US.

The law prohibits accessing the computer without authorization or excess of authorization in order to reduce the instances of malicious hacking.

4. PIPEDA

The personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act/Canada.

This Act mandates that businesses using data for, or in the course of, commercial activities, must disclose the purpose of that data collection to the owners of that data, and obtain consent to proceed. 

5. LGPD

Lei Geral de Protèçao de dados Pessoais/ Brazil.

LGPD is landmark legislation outlining data processing standards, including the ten legal bases on which the data can be processed. While the law was modeled after the EU GDPR it is notably less strict.

6. PDP

National Directorate of Personal Data Protection/ Argentina.

This law replaced Argentina’s Personal Data Protection Law and it gave users for the first time in Argentina the right to request, the deletion, and transfer of data.

7. GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation/EU.

It sets the strictest and most far-reaching standards for the handling of user data. It is based on the principles of consent, transparency, protection, and user control, and threatens fines as high as 4% of a company’s annual revenue.

8. e-Privacy

e-Privacy Directive and Regulation/ EU.

The ePrivacy Directive is often referred to as cookie law due to its requirement that websites obtain user consent to non-essential cookies before launching those cookies.

9. BBSG

Budesdatenschupzgesetz/Germany.

This Law sets rigid standards under which businesses are required to adopt and maintain protective measures for data stored in IT systems. 

10. POPI

Protection Of Personal Information Act/South Africa.

This Law applies to all South African organizations. It sets a standard of accountability for responsible data processing and establishes the requirement of customer consent to direct marketing outreach.

11. Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018(India).

After the Right to Privacy was determined as a Fundamental Human Right in 2017. India’s first Data Privacy Law was quickly created. The legislation sets privacy and data protection standards and notably introduces mandatory annual data audits.

12. Cyber Security Law (china).

China was enacted to increase data protection, data localization, and cybersecurity in the interest of national security.

13. ECPA

Electronic Communications Privacy Act/ US.

It prohibits the third party from disclosing private electronic communication without authorization.

Conclusion

Data privacy has generated the attention of the individuals, sharing sensitive personally identifiable information due to the privacy breach incidents which are increasing as the technology is evolving. The collection, transfer, and dissemination of information which usually takes place via the internet, get exposed to a number of risks. For this reason, it generates the attention of the public, academics, government, and the business class which is valuable for the reason that would encourage concern to be shown to the past and future of privacy protection.

Privacy being a fundamental right is an element of a healthy democratic society and a social property which relates to power, culture, values, social standing, liberty, and dignity among other things.

In order to take the account of data privacy risks, though much legislation has been enacted to address these issues, however, there are still incidents of data privacy intrusions for which the countries need to come up with the effective implementation of those legislations. Since there is an alarming rise of data privacy risks leading to data thefts and data breaches, the Legislations alone won’t count so, it’s high time that the information technology industry and government come together to lay down and regulate the effective means and norms to curb the menace of intrusion of privacy.

References

1. https://www.lifelock.com/learn-identity-theft-resources-what-is-data-privacy-and-why-is-it-important.html
2. https://teachprivacy.com/10-reasons-privacy-matters/
3. https://nordvpn.com/blog/why-is-data-privacy-important/
4. https://www.exin.com/data-protection/why-is-data-protection-so-important/
5. https://medium.com/@neelachary/the-importance-of-data-privacy-39c6676eeb58
6. https://www.tokenex.com/blog/data-privacy-vs-security
7. https://www.cleverism.com/lexicon/data-privacy/
8. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/10/01/10-data-security-risks-that-could-impact-your-company-in-2020/
9. https://www.varonis.com/blog/data-privacy/
10. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy
11. https://dataprivacymanager.net/security-vs-privacy/
12. https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Privacy-concerns-in-the-digital-world
13. https://blog.netwrix.com/2019/11/05/data-privacy-trends-issues-and-concerns-for-2020/
14. https://blog.netwrix.com/2019/06/25/data-privacy-vs-data-security-what-is-the-real-difference/
15. https://www.emotiv.com/glossary/data-privacy/
16. https://i-sight.com/resources/a-practical-guide-to-data-privacy-laws-by-country/
17. https://www.plurilock.com/answers/password-hygiene-what-does-password-hygiene-mean/

Introduction :

The unwavering conflict between the Israel i.e. the world’s only Jewish state and the Palestine consisting of the Arab population, which is the most controversial and polarizing issues within modern day international politics is essentially over who gets what land, how is it to be controlled and  complex modern politics. The conflict between the two fighting for the right to peaceful statehood existence, within the same geographical region of the middle east began in the early 20^th century but it can be dated back to the couple of thousand years  when the Jews, fleeing from persecution in Europe wanted to establish a  state of their own which was resisted by the Arabs who saw the land as rightfully theirs, as a result of which several wars were fought, the major wars among those include the wars fought in 1948 and 1967. The war of 1967 is of greater importance so far as the current situation is concerned because it transferred  west bank and Gaza strip under the control of Jews^[].The continuous string of wars between the two parties to the conflict have to lead to a situation very difficult to resolve .it is difficult to make the west bank a part of an independent Palestine because Israel has built settlements and constructed barriers which formed a de-facto border, it’s difficult to decide to which part the Jerusalem shall belong as both sides claim it to be their center. Besides, there is a dispute between the two sides regarding refugees as well. So, the conflict between the two is essentially regarding the Holy land, which is of greater religious, cultural and political importance to both the parties to the conflict.

 The term holy land usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern state of Israel, the Palestinian territories, western Jordan and parts of southern Lebanon and of southwestern Syria. The city of Jerusalem is sacred to many religious  traditions, including the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which consider it a holy city .some  of the most sacred places for each of these religions are found in Jerusalem and the one shared between all three is the Temple Mount.

Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people since the 10 century BC. It is given such a special status in Jewish law that Jews outside Jerusalem pray facing its direction and believe that the land was promised by God to the children of Abraham i.e. Israelis and hence the claim.

So far as the Islamic stand is concerned, Jerusalem is the sacred site along with Mecca and Medina because it is believed that the previous prophets of Islam were associated with the city and the last messenger of Islam Prophet Mohammad (saw) visited the city on a nocturnal journey as per Islamic belief and besides it is also regarded to be the first qibla and hence has a great significance for Muslims generally and the inhabitants of Palestine in particular.

 History.

The conflict between the two though very ancient but it gathered gravity in 1917 when the official support of Britain was extended to Jewish National home in Palestine by Arthur James Balfour, the then British foreign Secretary, ignoring the rights of Arabs of Palestine which ultimately led to violence and when Britain was not able to contain the violence it withdrew its forces from Palestine in 1948, the time when the UN was created and hence the matter was now to be resolved by the UN itself.

UN took its first step to resolve this matter by presenting a partition plan which provided for the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine which were accepted by most of the Jews but most of the Arabs rejected it.

When Israel declared its independence in 1948 a war took place between the two states the outcome of which was that Israel controlled about 50% of more territory than was suggested but the UN, Jordan controlled west bank, Jerusalem holy sites, and Egypt controlled Gaza but the Jews were removed from inside of the Gaza by Israel in 2005 however it maintained tight control over the border crossing.

Shortly after 16 years i.e. in 1967, another war took place between Arabs and Israeli where Israel seized Golan heights from Syria, the west bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan and Sinai Peninsula and Gaza strip from Egypt. Currently, the west bank is nominally controlled by the Palestinian authority but is under Israeli occupation in the sense that the Israeli troops enforce security Restrictions and the Gaza strip is the control of Hamas, an Islamist fundamentalist party with no ground troop occupation.

The year of 1975 proved to be very important for Palestinians as the UN in the  year of 1975  gave observer status to the Palestine liberation organization (PLO)and recognized the Palestinians right to self-determination but irrespective of this recognition violence continued between the two which led to the formation of Hamas in 1987, which is an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood seeking to free Palestine by jihad. It was in this year only when the tension in occupied territories of west bank and Gaza reached a crucial point which led to the first intifada i.e. a war between Palestinian militants and Israeli army.

After the grave violence which led to wastage of innocent lives of thousands of people on both the sides, PLO and Israel agreed to recognize each other and renounce violence under an accord called  Oslo Accords in 1993 which led to the establishment of Palestinian Authority which received autonomy in some parts of the west bank and the Gaza strip.

Current situation.

After the gulf war against Kuwait whereby Palestinians supported Iraq, Palestinians lost financial and military support of Arabs(Zahler Reuben Israel Palestinian conflict, Oregon Hilel Eugene OR20 Nov 2014 lecture) but since the international community has recognized the problem of a Palestinian refugee, western nations came forward for support .so far as the negotiation is concerned, more rounds of negotiation occurred like the one led by the then us president Bill Clinton  i.e. the camp David ii, but this too didn’t fructify and was followed by intifada second i.e. the Al-Aqsa intifada which erupted between the two parties in the year 2000 which left severe and deep imprints in the entire region, by 2003, 2,400 Palestinians and 800 Israelis have died with hundreds more wounded and traumatized (Bunton martin p. the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a very short introduction Np,97 print). The then Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon sought to disrupt the Palestinian authority economic and physical infrastructure (ibid.) Israel deployment of tanks, helicopters, and troops were placed in Palestinian territories. The aim of above-mentioned Prime Minister was to separate the Israeli from Palestinians and not to opt for any negotiations.

The largely tumultuous decade of the 2000s resulted in more and radical threats more insecurity, intense military retaliation and continual hardship for a daily Palestinian, and when we consider the violence in Gaza strip, there occur semi-frequent conflicts like 2008 Israel-Gaza war, 2012 conflict and the war of 2014 which usually resulted in protests across the west bank, IDF bombings and ground invasions in Gaza among other violations.

The Israeli Govt.  has taken a strict stand so far as its dealings with the Palestinians are concerned within the scope of international humanitarian law because it continues  to impose unjustifiable restrictions on Palestinian human rights, not allowing the moment of goods and people  in and out of Gaza strip and by allowing the Israeli citizens to settle in the occupied Gaza strip. The restrictions so imposed in Gaza result in limited access to educational institutions, medical care, economic and other opportunities, clean water, and electricity as a result of which 80% of population depend on humanitarian aid.

The international human rights standards continue to be violated at the hands of Israeli forces by firing live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators in Gaza and open fire operations. According to Al-Mezan, a Palestinian rights group, Israeli forces killed 34 Palestinians and 1883 were injured with live ammunition during the protests in 2019 as per the Gaza health ministry. These violations also resulted in unlawful attacks and civil causalities on both sides.

According to Israeli Group Peace Now, in 2019 plans for 5995 housing units in west bank settlements were approved by Israeli authorities, excluding east Jerusalem as compared to 5618 in 2018. The cabinet officials of Israel approved the ex-post-facto the outpost settlement of Mevo’ot Yericho in the Jordan valley, something that is illegal even under Israeli law. Besides, the Israeli authorities also destroyed 504 Palestinians homes and other structures and provide them with no construction permit in East Jerusalem, or west bank i.e. under its control. According to the UN office of the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the demolitions displaced 642 people.

Israel responds to the launching of rockets or incendiary balloons from Gaza resulting into causalities of civilians by restricting Gaza’s access to territorial waters for fishermen, closing Israel crossings to Gaza, slashing fuel imports to the Gaza power plant as a punishment.

Stand of international community.

As far as the international community is concerned, a different approach is being shown by different countries regarding the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The US has recognized the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, imposed and expanded aid cuts to the west bank and Gaza including the USAID projects, declared that the US does not consider the Israeli settlements to violate international humanitarian law. The US states also penalized the global tourism company Airbnb under anti-boycott laws for its pledge to remove listings from Israeli settlements in the west bank from its website and hence it reversed its pledge.

The European Union criticized the demolition in Sur Baher, Jerusalem, and the Israelis politician Netanyahu’s promise to annex the Jordan valley.

Even the prosecutor for the international criminal court  instead of commencing  a probe into the Palestinian situation, requested the ruling from the court with regard to the matter  that if the Palestine is a state for the purpose of jurisdiction of the concerned court with regard to the occupied Palestinian territory.

In Feb. 2020 US President Donald Trump announced a controversial peace plan for the region that would legalize Israeli settlements in the west bank and East Jerusalem and allow annexation of the parts of the west bank while Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel.

This proposal was rejected by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on the basis that this plan will not bring peace or stability to the region as it annuls the legitimacy of Palestinian rights including the right to self-determination. He said that it is an Israeli- American plan to put an end to the question of Palestine. But the Israeli ambassador Danny Danon considered this approach as a sane plan to end the longstanding conflict.

The US envoy Mr. Mladenov expressed hope that the ambassador will support the Secretary General’s call for negotiation for the solution of the conflict. He held that “in the absence of the credible path back to negotiations, we all face a heightened risk of violence. Violence, which will drag both peoples and the region to a spiral of escalation with no end in sight”.

 So far as the stand of the world, with regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is concerned the bitter truth that one simply understands is that the legitimacy of Israel is recognized by the non-Muslim countries who maintain diplomatic relations with it but some of them have taken the unbiased stand and have criticized the Israelis treatment of the Palestinians and its occupation of the west bank. When we look at the global public opinion, we realize that it is more sympathetic to the cause of Palestine which has created a concern among the Israelis that the international boycott moment called BDS could pick up some support. This moment, which was initiated in 2005, aims at capitalizing international anger with Israel by creating costs to Israel Palestinian policy through (BDS)i.e. boycotting Israeli goods and institutions, divestment from Israeli companies and sanctions on the nation itself. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict drags on, many Israelis worry that BDS will become more mainstream, it is believed that BDS could end up being a real problem for Israel if it fails to come to terms with Palestinians.

One of the crucial things that have become the cause of Israel’s poor global standing is the west bank because most the countries believe that the continuous Israeli occupation of the west bank is an unlawful military occupation which violate the fourth Geneva convention (reference) which is justified by Israel by stating that it isn’t occupied and even if it were, it doesn’t violate the fourth Geneva convention because it prohibits the forcible population transfers not voluntarily settlement. 

Concluding remarks

Mahatma Gandhi, one of the peace-loving politicians that Indian Nation could ever have said “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent “ and when we consider this saying with regard to the crises in any part of the  world be it Syria , Rohingya, Palestine, Kashmir or any other conflicted area, one common thing that gets reflected on the eye of our mind is that, no matter how long-term the violence maybe, its desired outcome never fructifies simply because violence is violence and the more one tries to illegally suppress a just cause, the more such cause will flourish. Therefore, parties to the conflict should realize this simple principle as soon as possible and should try to recognize each other in a more just and fairway. so far as the Palestine-Israel is concerned , keeping in view the unending devastation and grave violations of basic human rights , it’s high time for both of the parties to say no to violence which is not going to  prove fruitful to anyone of them and try to resolve the issue in a more amicable and peaceful manner having regard to the emotions and rights of both the sides, besides it is also vital for the International community to take an unbiased stand and give its contribution towards the just and fair settlement of the dispute . Meanwhile the UN is highly duty-bound to perform the function for which it was created and stop being a mute spectator and hence contribute to Global peace and security.

Reference

 www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 En.m.wikipedia.org

 ibid

 www.history.com

 www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 www.drishtiias.com

 Colin-McClellan-senior-Honors-thesis-Israeli-Palestinian-conflict.pdf

 www.btselem.org

 www.reliefweb.in

 www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/israel/palestine

 www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080086/israel-palestine-global-opinion#

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/02/1057181

               “Sanitation is more important than independence” –  Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction:

Open defecation is defined as ‘the practice of defecating in open fields, waterways and open trenches without any proper disposal of human excreta’. Open defecation is the human practice of defecating outside (in an open environment) rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals or other open space for defecation. This practice is common where sanitation infrastructure and services are not available.

Defecating in the open is a very ancient practice. In earlier times, there were more open spaces and less population pressure on land. It was believed that defecating in the open causes little harm when done in areas with low population, forests, or camping type situations. However, with development and urbanization, open defecating started becoming a challenge and thereby an important public health issue and an issue of human dignity. With the increase in population in smaller areas, such as cities and towns, more attention was given to hygiene and health. As a result, there was an increase in global attention towards reducing the practice of open defecation.

                                Child defecating in the open in a canal in the slum of Gage in the city of Ibadan,

 The term “open defecation” is credited to the publications of Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) in 2008, a joint collaboration of World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to evaluate the global progress on water and sanitation goals. Open defecation is classified as unimproved sanitation.

How is Open defecation a problem? 

When a person defecates in the open, the pathogens (disease causing agents) present in the faeces travel from the hand to the mouth.Flies, rainwater, contaminated water, wind, hoofs of domestic animals, shoes, children’s toys, footballs, etc. are different agents or pathways through which faeces can enter one’s home.Faeces (Human Excrement) can get into the mouth via hands and fingernails, flies on food, fruits and vegetables that have been fallen on or been in contact with faeces and have not been washed, utensils washed in contaminated water, dogs licking people, etc.

Facts and figures relating to Open defecation across globe:

The current estimate is that around 673 million people practice open defecation[1]. This is down from about 892 million people, or 12 percent of the global population, who practiced open defecation in 2016.  In that year, seventy-six percent (678 million) of the 892 million people practicing open defecation in the world lived in just seven countries. In 2015, 15% of the world’s population was still practicing open defecation.. Regionally, prevalence is highest in South Asia where 36% of the population was practicing open defecation. India in particular still has high rates, at nearly 45%.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, this rate was 23%. However, some countries in particular — such as Niger, Chad, South Sudan and Eritrea — still have prevalence between 60 an d 80%. 2.0 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Of these, 673 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water.

Open defecation in Cambodia is among the highest in the world. In 2010, 57 percent of Cambodian households still defecate openly, and in rural Cambodia this reached 66 percent. 

Reasons for Open defecation:

There are a varied number of reasons for open defecation . It can be a voluntary, semi-voluntary or involuntary choice. Most of the time, a lack of access to a toilet is the reason. However, in some places even people with toilets in their houses prefer to defecate in the open.

A few reason that result in the practice of open defecation are given below:

1. No toilet and/or other problems related to toilets:

•  Lack of infrastructure: People often lack toilets in their houses, or in the areas where they live.
•   Lack of toilets in other places: Lack of toilets in places away from people’s houses, such as in schools or in the farms lead the people to defecate in the open.
•    Use of toilets for other purposes: In some rural communities, toilets are used for other purposes, such as storing household items, animals, farms  or used as kitchens. In such cases, people go outside to defecate.
•    Poor quality of toilet: Sometimes people have access to a toilet, but the toilet might be broken, or of poor quality – Outdoor toilets (pit latrines in particular) typically are devoid of any type of cleaning and reek of odours. Sometimes, toilets are not well lit, especially in areas that lack electricity. Others lack doors or may not have water. Toilets with maggots or cockroaches are also disliked by people and hence, they go out to defecate.
•  Presence of toilet but not privacy: Some toilets do not have a real door, but have a cloth hung as a door. In some communities, toilets are located in places where women are shy to access them due to the presence of men.
•   Lack of water near the toilet: Absence of supply of water inside or next to toilets cause people to get water from a distance before using the toilet. This is an additional task and needs extra time.
•  Too many people using a toilet: This is especially true in case of shared or public toilets. If too many people want to use a toilet at the same time, then some people may go outside to defecate instead of waiting. In some cases, people  might not be able to wait due to diarrhea (or result of an Irritable Bowel Syndrome emergency).

 2. Unrelated to toilet infrastructure   

•  Lack of awareness: People in some communities do not know about the benefits of using toilets.
•  Lack of behavior change: Some communities have toilets, yet people prefer to defecate in the open. In some cases, these toilets are provided by the government or other organizations and the people do not like them, or do not value them. They continue to defecate in the open. Also, older people are often found to defecate in the open and they are hesitant to change their behavior and go inside a closed toilet.
•    Prefer being in nature: This happens mostly in less populated or rural areas, where people walk outside early in the morning and go to defecate in the fields or bushes. They prefer to be in nature and the fresh air; instead of defecating in a closed space such as a toilet. There may be cultural or habitual preference for defecating “in the open air”, beside a local river or stream, or even the bush.
•  Combining open defecation with other activities: Some people walk early in the morning to look after their farms. Some consider it as a social activity, especially women who like to take some time to go out of their homes. While on their way to the fields for open defecation they can talk to other women and take care of their animals.

3.   Socialization:

• Participants expressed defecation in open fields as an activity undertaken with friends, a common practice by people in the neighborhood  that allows socialization.

4. Independent outdoor activity:

• It was reported that open defecation was considered as a personal activity by some respondents that made them feel independent as they could choose different venues, as they wanted on a regular basis. Open defecation was expressed as an activity that is done by active people.

5. Habit:

• Open defecation was perceived to be deeply influenced by the prevailing societal practice since historical times. Participants expressed open defecation as a regular habit for which they had never felt the need for alternatives.

6. Religious beliefs:

• Some participants argued the practice of open defecation continued from the times of god and goddesses. Defecation nearby houses (in latrines) would be against the religious and spiritual norms. The religious book not describing latrines was used to justify that open defecation was in line with the religious norms.

7. Hygiene issues:

• Defecating in a latrine nearby their home was considered a source of disease nearby home. Open defecation was considered better hygiene as the dirt is left far away from home and the nuisance smell would not be found around their home.

Consequences of Open defecation:

1. Health related problems:

•  Increase in waterborne diseases

Diarrhea and other problems associated with ingesting and exposure to human waste affect children under the age of 5 years the most since they are very susceptible to diseases. This exposure is because most of the open defecation happens next to waterways and rivers.

In urban areas, this can include the drainage systems that are usually meant to traffic rainwater away from urban areas into natural waterways.

Such areas are often preferred because open defecators have a belief that the water washes away their waste. What they seem to forget is that most of such areas are not properly empowered to treat the water to remove human waste and the microbes that move with it.

Such a practice is contrary to proper sewage channels that treat waste black water and channel it into water systems free of any disease-causing germs afterward.

Therefore, the result of open defecation near waterways is that it is carried into the water system minus treatment. As a consequence, the contaminated water ends up in the main water source.

When people in these regions use the water as it for drinking and cooking (since the water is not boiled most of the time because of poverty and lack of education) it results in water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and trachoma.

• Vector-borne diseases

Apart from water-borne diseases, when human waste collects into heaps, it attracts flies and other insects. These flies then travel around the surrounding areas, carrying defecate matter and disease-causing microbes, where they then land on food and drink that people go ahead and ingest unknowingly. In such cases, the flies act as direct transmitters of diseases such as cholera.

•  Compounding the problem of disease exposure

The saddest fact about disease transmission caused by open defecation is the cyclic nature of problems that then begin to manifest. The most common diseases caused by this unsanitary act are increased cases of diarrhea, regular stomach upsets, and poor overall health.

With diarrhea, for instance, it means that people cannot make their way to distant places due to the urgency of their calls of nature, so they pass waste close to where they have their bowel attacks.

It simply ends up creating more of the same problems that started the disease in the first place and in turn, leads to more people catching diseases and fewer people using the facilities. The result of this is more sick people and more opportunities for the disease to spread.

•  Malnutrition in children

Malnutrition in children is another health problem associated with open defecation. Once a child is a victim of one of the diseases passed on due to the lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, they begin to lose a lot of fluids and lack of appetite for food. As a result, it gives rise to many cases of malnutrition in children.

Also, the situation is worsened by intestinal worm attacks passed through human refuse. Altogether, these problems lead to stunted growth and weakened immune system that makes the child more susceptible to other diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

2.  Harmful Effects of Open Defecation on the Environment:

•  Contamination via microbes

The environment also suffers as a result of open defecation because it introduces toxins and bacteria into the ecosystem in amounts that it cannot handle or break down at a time. This leads to the build-up of filth. Also, the load of microbes can become so great that in the end, they end up in aquatic systems thereby causing harm to aquatic life.

At the same time, it can contribute to eutrophication or the formation of algal blooms that form disgusting scum on the surface of the waterways which disturb aquatic life underneath the water by preventing oxygen and light diffusion into the water.

• Visual and olfactory pollution

Heaps of humans or just the sight of it cause an eyesore and nauseate anyone who is close. The stink emanating from the refuse is also highly unappealing and pollutes the surrounding air. Such places also attract large swarms that make the area completely unattractive for the eye.

For all those unfortunate to see the regions affected, it creates a sorry sight and reduces the dignity of all those living in the squalor of those regions. The smells augment the problem by disgusting those who live within the affected regions making life awful.

•     Open defecation leads to sexual violence:

Finally, there is violence against women and girls, which is often life-threatening. Violence against women and girls of all ages. Physical violence, which may include murder, rape, stabbing and other bodily harm, is a not uncommon experience for women and girls as they journey to a place of OD, especially at night (Gómez et al. 2008). Bhalla (2014) reported the occurrence of two ‘open-defecation murders’ in rural India:

‘The two [girl] cousins, who were from a low-caste Dalit community and aged 14 and 15, went missing from their village home in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun district when they went out to go to the toilet [in a neighbouring field]. The following morning, villagers found the bodies of the two teenagers hanging from a mango tree in a nearby orchard.’It transpired that the two girls had been attacked and gang-raped by five local men before they were hanged. Unfortunately, such incidents are not at all uncommon: Gosling et al. (2015) reported that many women in Bhopal and Delhi, India, and Kampala, Uganda 

experienced violence and harassment on a daily basis. Such violence may often induce longer-term psychological damage.

World towards ending open defecation:

• Policy taken to eradicate open defecation:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sought to halve the proportion of the population globally without access to an improved sanitation facility (designed to hygienically separate excreta from human contact). Despite progress, this global target was missed by nearly 700 million people. The SDG(Sustainable development goals)  6.2 target is far more ambitious than previous MDG targets. It calls for access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and to end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.

The world is currently off-track to eliminate open defecation by 2030. Between 2000 and 2015, 337 million people stopped practicing open defecation about 22 million a year. To successfully end open defecation, at least 60 million people need to stop the practice each year between 2015 and 2030.  Of the 62 countries where at least five per cent of the population practiced open defecation in 2015, only 18 countries are on track to eliminate open defecation by 2030. Globally, three times the current progress is needed to end open defecation by 2030.

UNICEF’s commitment and ambition to meet this challenge are stronger than ever. Goal of UNICEF is that by 2021, 1. 250 million fewer people will be practicing open defecation; 2.30 million additional people will be living in certified open defecation free communities as a direct result of UNICEF programming support; 3. 60 million additional people will be accessing basic sanitation services as a direct result of UNICEF programming support; and  in 26 game plan countries, governments will be routinely analyzing trends (including equity analysis) and reporting on progress towards the fulfillment of SDG 6.2, with a specific focus on reducing open defecation.

• Geographic focus: the 26 game plan countries:

UNICEF is currently implementing WASH program in over 100 countries, and will continue to do so based on regional and country contexts and their respective priorities. There will be a special focus on sanitation programming in the 26 ‘high burden’ countries. These either have more than five million people defecating in the open or more than 50 per cent of the population defecating in the open. These are UNICEF’s ‘game plan countries’; together, the 26 game plan countries represent over 90 per cent of the global burden of open defecation. UNICEF’s game plan to end open defecation will specifically target these 26 countries for additional support over the next four years, to accelerate or sustain the annual reduction rate in open defecation. The 26 game plan countries represent a broad range of contexts. They include 13 low-income countries and 13 middle-income countries. Nine of the countries are characterized as ‘fragile states’. This highlights the very different backgrounds against which ending open defecation programs need to be developed. Of the 26 game plan countries:

 • Only five are on track for eliminating open defecation by 2030;

• Seventeen are making progress but at too slow a rate; and

 • In four countries, the share of people practicing open defecation is actually increasing.

 All program approaches must of course be context specific. Each country is at a different stage and country offices are designing their own set of activities towards successfully eliminating open defecation, built on UNICEF’s long experience and comparative advantage in the sector. UNICEF will ensure that resources target the communities in greatest need and look for intervention models that can be sustained and scaled up within the capabilities of government and partners. What constitutes a successful approach will be different in each country. By working with government and partners to map the national and sub-national contexts, UNICEF can identify what approaches, skills and resources are appropriate and most likely – to maximize and sustain results. UNICEF’s sanitation programs are a blend of three main elements, with the emphasis on each element differing according to country contexts. These elements are:

1. Creating demand through institutionalizing community approaches to total sanitation, addressing behavioral barriers, and creating a sustained social norm of not practicing open defecation at scale.
2.  Strengthening supply chains and markets so that they meet the demand for quality sanitation goods and services that are affordable to all – including to the lowest quintile and otherwise marginalized communities and individuals. This will allow households to move progressively up the sanitation ladder.
3.  Strengthening of the enabling environment and national systems to deliver sustainable sanitation services with an equity focus. This includes support for bottleneck analyses, policy development, including financing of sanitation in sector plans, promoting sustainability checks, coordination, and monitoring.

 A focus of UNICEF’s support to governments is improving monitoring systems at the national and sub-national level, in close coordination with ongoing efforts of other UN agencies on SDG monitoring. Improved monitoring systems provide information that supports decision-making and enhances sustainability and equity of the sanitation program.

• Progress towards goal of open defecation free:

“Open defecation free” (ODF) is a phrase first used in community-led total sanitation (CLTS) programs. The original meaning of ODF stated that all community members are using sanitation facilities (such as toilets) instead of going to the open for defecation. This definition was improved and more criteria were added in some countries that have adopted the CLTS approach in their programs to stop the practice of open defecation.

The Indian Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has in mid-2015 defined ODF as “the termination of fecal-oral transmission, defined by: no visible feces found in the environment or village, and every household as well as public/community institutions using safe technology option for disposal of feces”.

 Since 2000, the global rate of open defecation has decreased from 21% to 9% (0.7 percentage points per year).  Between 2000 and 2017, the number of countries where at least 1% of the population practiced open defecation from 108 to 81, while the number of ‘high burden countries with rates of more than 5% decreased from 79 to 61. In 2017, these 61 ‘high burden’ countries were home to a combined population of 3.2 billion. Between 2000 and 2017, open defecation rates declined in all SDG regions except Oceania. While Europe and North America and Australia and New Zealand have already achieved ‘near elimination’ (<1%), in all other SDG regions at least 1% of the population still practiced open defecation in 2017. The largest reductions in each SDG region were recorded by Ethiopia, Nepal, Cambodia, Sudan, Kiribati and the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Countries that already reduced open defecation below 25% by 2000 generally progressed more slowly, , reflecting the challenges associated with fully realizing the target of “elimination”,a total of 16 countries reduced open defecation by over 20 percentage points, including five countries by over 33 percentage points, and two countries by over 50 percentage points. Since 2000, one third of the population of Nepal and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, over half of the population of Cambodia and Ethiopia, and nearly half of the population of India have stopped practicing open defecation. This not only represents a significant reduction in inequality but also a transformational shift in social norms and public health in those countries. Between 2000 and 2017, 91 countries reduced open defecation by a combined total of 696 million people with Central and Southern Asia accounted for three quarters of this reduction.

 In 2017, 45% of the global population (3.4 billion people) used a safely managed sanitation service. 31% of the global population (2.4 billion people) used private sanitation facilities connected to sewers from which wastewater was treated. 14% of the global population (1.0 billion people) used toilets or latrines where excreta were disposed of in situ. However during the same period open defecation was still practiced by 18% of the rural population and 1% of the urban population. Nine out of ten open defecators lived in rural areas, and poorer people were much more likely to practise open defecation. Assuming current rates of progress continue, less than half are on track to achieve ‘near elimination’ of open defecation (<1%) nationally by 2030. Even fewer countries are on track in rural areas, and just one in five are on track to eliminate open defecation among the poorest rural wealth quintile. Efforts to end open defecation by 2030 will therefore need to be targeted primarily at rural populations and particularly at the rural poor. Nepal is one of the few countries which is on track to achieve ‘near elimination’ among the poorest in rural areas where open defecation has been reduced by 4.6 percentage points per year since 2000.    

India and Open defecation:

To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put the focus on sanitation, the Prime Minister of India had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBMG) on 2nd October 2014. Under the mission, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in India declared themselves “open-defecation free” (ODF) by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India. To ensure that the open defecation free behaviours are sustained, no one is left behind, and that solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible, the Mission is moving towards the next Phase II of SBMG i.e ODF-Plus. ODF Plus activities under Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) will reinforce ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions for the safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages.

Since 2014, the Government of India, in partnership with UNICEF, has made remarkable strides in reaching the Open Defecation Free targets. 36 states and union territories, 706 districts and over 603,175 villages have been declared open defecation free as of Jan 2020.

Conclusion:

The significance of sanitation to safeguard human health is irrefutable and has important public health dimensions. Access to sanitation has been essential for human dignity, health and well-being.

Along with the obvious health benefits of ending open defecation, countries that have rid themselves of the practice have also enjoyed a huge transformation in social norms and a noticeable reduction in inequality.

Reference:

 Saleem, M., Burdett, T. & Heaslip, V. Health and social impacts of open defecation on women: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 19, 158 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6423-z ( accessed on 16-06-2020)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation#Reasons (accessed on 16-06-2020)

Policy Brief for Parliamentarians Open Defecation: This is also your business.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation

https://ourworldindata.org/sanitation

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation#:~:text=2.0%20billion%20people%20still%20do,consume%20food%20irrigated%20by%20wastewater.

Scaling Up Rural SanitationInvesting in the Next Generation:Growing Tall and Smart with Toilets Stopping Open Defecation Improves Children’s Height in Cambodia

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_defecation&action=edit&section=4

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/how-open-defecation-affect-human-health-environment-and-solutions.php

https://iwaponline.com/washdev/article/7/1/1/30446/The-elimination-of-open-defecation-and-its-adverse

 www.unicef.org/wash/files/unicef_game_plan_to_end_open_defecation_2018.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation

(https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation)

https://swachhbharatmission.gov.in/sbmcms/index.htm#content

https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-mismatch-is-rural-india

Introduction

Education is not a privilege. It is a human right, Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Education is provided in order for the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for humans,  feelings ,emotions, sense of understanding, responsiblity . Unlike in other countries with compulsory education, parents in Germany are not allowed to teach their children at home. Here, school attendance is compulsory, and this is justified by the state’s duty to educate. Children usually start school at the age of six and attend classes for at least nine years. The German education system is different in many ways from the ones in other countries, but it produces high-performing students. The overwhelming majority of German students attend public schools. The whole German education system, including the universities, is available to the children of bona fide expatriates. The catch, of course, is that the classes are conducted in German, which is usually all right for school beginners but becomes more and more of a problem as the children get older. But, there are also many private schools. Although education is a function of the federal states, and there are differences from state to state, some generalizations are possible.

Breaking The Stereotype Of Public Sector Education In Germany

Historically, Lutheranism had a strong influence on German culture, including its education. Martin Luther advocated compulsory schooling so that all people would independently be able to read and interpret the Bible. This concept became a model for schools throughout Germany.When the German Empire was formed in 1871, the school system became more centralized.In 1872, Prussia recognized the first separate secondary schools for females. As learned professions demanded well-educated young people, more secondary schools were established, and the state claimed the sole right to set standards and to supervise the newly established schools. Germany means that the country of origin or the immigrants’ background is still a barrier to having access to education and the labor market of Germany. Germany being the largest country in Europe, and in the wake of recent events like the ongoing refugee crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis, and even the British Brexit vote, have been in the spotlight. The statistical data of Educational Report, PISA surveys. The results of the educational statistics of Germany show that more than group characteristics like social and cultural capital, structural and institutional factors (multi-track system with its selective mechanism, education policy, context of negative reception of Germany, institutional discrimination, and lack of intercultural curriculum) could have a decisive role in hampering the educational and labor market integration and social mobility.the statistical data of Educational Report, PISA surveys. The results of the educational statistics of Germany show that more than group characteristics like social and cultural capital, structural and institutional factors (multi-track system with its selective mechanism, education policy, context of negative reception of Germany, institutional discrimination, and lack of intercultural curriculum) could have a decisive role in hampering the educational and labor market integration and social mobility. 

The rapid aging of Germany’s population of 82.1 million is another looming concern. Also Germany being the 2nd top on the list of world’s oldest population after japan .Almost with 28 % of its citizens aged about 60 years of age or above than that (Statistic Reported In The Federal Statistical Office of Germany)

Given these challenges, and seeing the more than 1 /4 of its population is overaged which would ultimately decline their  economy it is no surprise that the German government has taken a step beyond  breaking the stereotype of education  in public sector as found in many other countries ,have taken a step and made the internationalization of higher education a strategic objective. Not only the Internationalization of higher education but also they have completely changed there system of education . Internationalization has various benefits ranging from positive impacts on the quality of research and education to enhancing the global reputation of academic institutions.  Factors like the absence of tuition fees and a reputation for high-quality education, particularly in engineering and natural sciences, have helped Germany become an increasingly attractive country for mobile students seeking education abroad.

Structured  School System

Germany has a federal system of government which grants its 16 member states a high degree of autonomy in education policy. The Federal Ministry of Education in Berlin has a role in funding, financial aid, and the regulation of vocational education and entry requirements in the professions. But most other aspects of education fall under the authority of the individual states, or “Bundesländer”

Children first attend primary school for four years. In their fourth year the decision is made on how to continue their education. The secondary school system is divided into:

• Hauptschule – for less academic students;
• Realschule – for intermediate students;
• Gymnasium – for academic students;
• Gesamtschule – a comprehensive school combining all education types.

1. Hauptschule:The Hauptschule (grades 5-9) teaches the same subjects as the Realschule and Gymnasium, but at a slower pace and with some vocational-oriented courses. It leads to part-time enrollment in a vocational school combined with apprenticeship training until the age of 18.
2. Realschule: The Realschule (grades 5-10 in most states) leads to part-time vocational schools and higher vocational schools. It is now possible for students with high academic achievement at the Realschule to switch to a Gymnasium on graduation.
3. Gymnasium:The Gymnasium is a diploma called the Abitur .It is basic for university  study or for a dual academic and vocational credential. Curriculum differs for every school, but generally include German, mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, art (as well as crafts and design), music, history, philosophy, civics, social studies, and several foreign languages.
4. Gesamtschule:The Gesamtschule, or comprehensive school, is only found in some of the states. It takes the place of both the Hauptschule and Realschule. It enrolls students of all ability levels in the 5th through the 10th grades. Students who satisfactorily complete the Gesamtschule through the 9th grade receive the Hauptschule certificate, while those who satisfactorily complete schooling through the 10th grade receive the Realschule certificate.
5. Berufsschule:This is done after the Hauptschule and Realschule .Berufsschule combining part-time academic study and apprenticeship. This type of schooling develops the ability of students in a particular trade or field of work. This is directly under the control of the federal government, industry and the trade unions.No matter to which school a student belongs he/she must have completed 9 years of schooling and if he is drop out then he should have been for a schooling of at least one foreign language at least for 5 years.
6. Special Needs Students:There are different schools for students with special needs called Sonderschule or Förderschule. Depending on the individual’s needs and a school’s availability, a student can attend one of the generally have a smaller student to teacher ratio than the regular schools. 
7. Private  Schools:  There are a number of different types of private schools in Germany. These schools usually charge tuition and may offer varied courses leading to the German Abitur as well as other diplomas and certificates at the conclusion of studies.
8. Internat :The Internat are German boarding schools. There are many of these kinds and offer various subjects. There are sports Internat, music Internat as well as Internat that specialize in other areas. There are also some separate boarding schools for boys and girls.
9. International Schools : The several dozen International Schools in Germany normally offer courses in English leading to an IBO or other diploma or certificate that allows the students to continue on to college or university.
10. Home Schooling : Homeschooling is illegal in Germany. The law requiring students to attend public schools or approved private schools has been upheld despite challenges to it.
11. Higher Education :There are several varieties of university-level schools. The classical universities, in the tradition of Alexander von Humboldt, provide a broad general education and students usually attend them for up to six years. However, in recent years there have been changes to the curriculum allowing a university student (in a normal or technical university) to normally acquire a Bachelor Degree in either 6 or 7 semesters. A Masters Degree will normally require an additional 3 or 4 semesters. The Technical Universities (Technische Hochschulen) are more aimed at training students for specific careers. There are also Hochschulen for art and music.

Conclusion

Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of every individual German state while as the federal government play a minor role.The system of education varies throughout Germany because each state has to decides its own educational policies. By breaking  stereotype of regular education system to a systematic and particular type of public sector education system by German government . As the public education sector is divided and its control is under the states resulting  in  providing the solution to various problems which Germany was facing . It is estimated  that about 99% of German people aging 15 years to above can  read and write which would ultimately help there declining economy. Public sector education is made free to every child up to a particular  type of schooling. By this system of public education sector it  helped greatly in breaking socioeconomic, ender . Other types of discrimination which somehow was prevailing as poor people could not afford the economic expenses  of their children’s to  provide them with education .

This report is being written by Aiman Mir & Shaista Aziz

Introduction

 The U.S relations with Mexico could be regarded as indispensable because of the fact that the countries share land and maritime border in North America. Several treaties have been concluded between the two nations such as the Gadsden Purchase (an agreement between the U.S and Mexico, in which the U.S agreed to pay Mexico $10million for a 2, 09,670 square mile portion of Mexico) and the North American free-trade agreement (NAFTA) (an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and U.S, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America). Both are members of the various international organizations including the organization of the American States and the United Nations.

Despite the fact that both countries have close diplomatic, economic, and socio-cultural relations, illegal immigration and illegal trade in drugs and firearms continue to be the causes of differences between the two countries.

Origin

The first border dispute between The United States and Mexico arose because of the reason for migration. In an effort to control the inflow of English-speaking settlers, Mexico banned immigration to Texas from The United States. With the independence of Texas from Mexico in 1845, it became a part of The United States as a slave state by the efforts of the then Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. As a result of the independence of Texas, Mexico ended up its diplomatic relations with the United States.

Furthermore, in a fix to make the Rio Grande River the border between The United States and Mexico which would make Texas part of The United States, the then U.S President James Polk in 1845 offered to purchase California and New Mexico from the Mexican government which in turn was refused. As a mark of retaliation to the refusal, Polk sent military forces to the Rio Grande, and a full-scale US invasion followed with the seizure of Mexico City.

Thereafter, the peace treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed ending the Mexican-American war which obligated Mexico to relinquish present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, parts of Colorado, and Nevada. In return for the war-related damage to the Mexican land, $15 million in compensation was paid by The U.S. In addition to this, the peace treaty also provided for the protection of the property and civil rights of the roughly 80,000 Mexican nationals living in The U.S.

In 1853, the then U.S President Franklin Pierce planned to construct a railroad to the Pacific ocean for which he purchased 30,000 square miles of land along the Mesilla Valley which runs from California to El Paso for $10 million. The Gadsden Purchase marks the last adjustment to the border between Mexico and The United States and also the resolution for an indispensable border dispute between the two.          

Cross Border Issues

The U.S- Mexican relations have usually remained friendly, nevertheless, periodic tensions have emerged over some major as well as minor issues including trade disputes, immigration, border security issues, drug trafficking, border environmental issues, and water resource issues respectively.

Drug Trafficking 

Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and sale of substances that are subject to drug prohibition laws.

Mexico plays a major role in the US drug control policy as it is the primary source of and transit country for illicit drugs like heroin, marijuana, and synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, fentanyl. Besides, Mexico is also a major transit country for cocaine produced in the Andean region of South America.           

According to the Drug Enforcement administration (it is an agency tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the United States) 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment, Mexican drug trafficking organisations which are involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and other violent crime continue to pose a greatest criminal threat to the United States.

In 1969, an aggressive search and seizure counternarcotics operation was launched on the U.S Mexico border, by the then U.S President Richard Nixon while declaring “war on drugs”. The government of the United States deployed the agents for the purpose of inspecting all the persons and vehicles crossing into The United States through the border.  

The United States created the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA and there was some counternarcotics cooperation in the 1970s and 80s. However, the killing of one of its DEA agents in Mexico sparked outrage in The United States which led them to pursue the unilateral strategy to fight the war on drugs.

Data on drug seizures at the U.S. border indicate an alarming volume of trafficking taking place in recent years. Since 2009, heroin seizures at the southwestern border have almost tripled, while meth seizures quintupled. However, cocaine and marijuana remain two of the most commonly seized drugs along the southern borders, equating to millions of pounds seized by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Since 2012, the number of traffickers apprehended at U.S. borders has steadily increased from 364,768 to nearly 500,000 in 2014. From 2012 to 2015 the U.S. Border Patrol has seized more than:

8.2 million lbs. of marijuana

32,600 lbs. of cocaine

34,000 ounces of heroin

17,600 lbs. of methamphetamine

Unfortunately, despite the high volume of search & seizure programs that have effectively stopped millions of pounds of illicit drugs from entering the  U.S,  drugs are still finding their way across and have a profound impact in many states along southern and coastal borders.

Unauthorised Immigration 

Unauthorized immigration refers to the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence of people without the legal right to live in that country.

Unauthorized immigration has always been a subject of greater concern between The US and Mexico with much emphasis on how to prevent unauthorized migration and address the large population of illegal migrants living in the United States. Mexico being the largest source of unauthorized migrants in The United States, the U.S migration policies including stepped-up border and interior enforcement have primarily affected Mexicans as more Mexicans have been leaving the United States than arriving. However, the Mexicans living in the United States, including those who are unauthorized remain the top priority of the Mexican government. 

Undocumented Guatemalans carry their belongings after crossing the Guatemala-Mexico border

While the concern of the US government over unauthorized immigration was on peak in the 1990s, it came up with the strategy for tracking down the unauthorized immigrants living in the  United States including the enforcement plan increasing border security and granting power to local law enforcement in the Border States to uphold immigration laws.

Since the mid-2000, successive Mexican governments have supported efforts to enact the Immigration reform in the United States, while being careful not to appear infringing upon US authority to make and enforce immigration laws. Mexico has made efforts to combat transmigration by unauthorized migrants and worked with US law enforcement to combat alien smuggling and human trafficking. 

NAFTA and USMCA

In 1980, the then US President Ronal Reagan put forth the idea of the North American Free Trade Zone as a part of his presidential campaign. After signing the Canada-United States free trade agreement in 1988, the governments of the US, Mexico, and Canada agreed to negotiate on what became NAFTA but even after ratification of the agreement by their respective capitals, NAFTA faced significant opposition in both US and Canada. 

Eventually, all the three countries ratified NAFTA in 1993, and finally, it came into force a year later, after the addition of the two side agreements to it, The North American Agreement on Labor cooperation NAALC (it is the side agreement to NAFTA under which each of the three countries that are parties to NAFTA agreed to enforce their own labor standards and to strive to improve labor standards in their country) and The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation NAAEC (it is an environmental agreement between the US Canada and Mexico as a  side treaty to NAFTA which sets out objectives concerning the conservation and the protection of the environment as well as concrete measures to further cooperation on the matters between the three countries).

Effects of NAFTA:

• NAFTA eliminated barriers to trade and investment between the US, Canada, and Mexico.

• It eliminated most tariffs with the major focus on liberalizing trade in agriculture, textiles, and automobile manufacturing.

• The agreement also sought to protect intellectual property, establish dispute resolution mechanisms and through side agreements, implement labor and environmental safeguards.

• NAFTA fundamentally proved beneficial to North American economies and the average citizens but harmed a small minority of workers in industries exposed to trade competition.

On the other hand, critics of the agreement argue that it was to be blamed for job losses, wage stagnation driven by low wage competition, and a widening trade deficit.

After US President Donald Trump took office in 2017, all the three signatories a year later reached an agreement to modernize the 25-year-old NAFTA with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and all the three countries had ratified it in 2020. The USMCA took effect on July 1, 2020, replacing NAFTA. The new United States- Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will support mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and strong economic growth.

Cross Border Environmental Issues 

Environmental health and environmental quality issues along the US-Mexico border have always been a concern for several years. Transboundary and shared resources and conflict include the flow of raw sewage and industrial wastewater into the United States from Mexico which has caused health and environmental problems in the border region.

Wastewater collection and treatment system capacity has not kept pace with rapid population growth in the border region. Also, the aging of existing wastewater infrastructure has resulted in increased maintenance issues such as pipeline ruptures. To address border sanitation issues, International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the North American Development Bank (NADB) have been engaged to construct wastewater infrastructure on both sides of the border.

Recent Development and Crisis

Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign, U.S-Mexico relations have been in crisis. The bilateral relationships between the two countries have been seriously affected by Trump’s criticism of Mexico and its people, his threats to deport millions of undocumented Mexicans, his desire to build what he calls a “beautiful wall” on the southern border, and his express intention to abandon NAFTA. For Mexico officials and intellectuals, the current state of affairs has reached the lowest point in the two countries’ relationship over the last 25 years.

President Trump refocused the Merida initiative through executive orders on combating transnational criminal organizations and enhancing border security. Though Trump has praised Mexico’s enhanced efforts to reduce migration flows but criticized Mexico’s anti-drug performance. On the proposal of the Mexican government in 2019, a high-level security working group, with a view to combating organized crime and cross-border crime, was agreed to be created by the U.S government which includes the Merida initiative as one aspect of bilateral efforts.

Throughout Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, he called for the construction of a bigger, more impenetrable border wall with a view to preventing illegal immigration from Mexico along the U.S-Mexico border. In furtherance of this proposal, The Trump administration two years later announced new rules to deny asylum to anyone crossing the United States illegally. However, Mexico has substantially opposed the construction of the border wall as well as the Trump administration’s immigration policy for the reason that Mexico places high importance on immigration, not only because millions of co-nationals live in the U.S but also because they send millions of dollars to the country.

Conclusion

For the first time over the last 25 years, the U.S-Mexico relations have withered away. The structural system that has prevailed for more than two decades is now under considerable threat. Although USMCA succeeded in the 25 years old NAFTA its future at present remains unpredictable. The nature of the bilateral relationship is likely to change substantially if the U.S implements its immigration reform which will have an enduring impact on the economies of both countries.The U.S government’s immigration reforms and the modification in NAFTA have adversely affected Mexican nationalism and the perception of the U.S. Thus, the consequence of Trump’s campaign and his presidency has lead to the collapse of the bilateral relations between the two countries on one hand and strengthened the unity of Mexico’s citizens against the US Foreign policy on the other hand.

References

1. Clare Ribando Seeke, “Mexico: Background & US Relations”, CRS report; https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42917.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiosr-7sM7qAhW2zzgGHaRtA6AQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2wmlZeZnT4eW_3xAr2opA-&cshid=1594786492624 ; Updated on; May 12, 2020, accessed on; 13 July 2020.
2. M. Angeles Villarreal, “US Mexico Economic Relations: Trends,Issues & Implications” CRS report; https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32934.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj9z-_xtM7qAhU9wTgGHetWCFAQFjABegQIERAB&usg=AOvVaw22cwm7OH4X1oxsvqn8WESw; Updated on: March 26 ,2019; accessed on: 13 July, 2020.
3. Andrew Chatzky, James McBride & Muhammad Aly Sergie; Council on Foreign relations, “NAFTA & USMCA. Weighing the impact of North American Trade”,https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/nafta-and-usmca-weighing-impact-north-american-trade; Updated on: 1 July,2020; accessed on: 14 July,2020.
4. Is there any crisis on the US-Mexico border?, BBC News, “https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-44319094” published on: 11 July, 2020; accessed on: 14 July, 2020.
5. Peter Andreas, “ A tale of two borders; the US-Mexico & US-Canada lines after 9-11”, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://ccis.ucsd.edu/_files/wp77.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjc1-_qus7qAhWLzTgGHfRQBwMQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw0ZfYxywP_5WI3a1Jg1NZ5c; Updated on: 1 July,2020; accessed on: 14 July,2020.