Category: Africa

MIL-OSI Africa: Entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty? Study in rural Kenya shows why it doesn’t always work

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ralph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape Town

International development agencies and non-governmental organisations often seek to advance community development by fostering entrepreneurship. The premise is that poor people can enhance their household incomes by establishing small businesses or by adding value to natural resources.

Such programmes commonly include training and the provision of loans to enable micro-entrepreneurs to get started. But these interventions aren’t straightforward and often fail to achieve their objectives.

Prior research has pointed to the fundamental economic challenges of entrepreneurship in the context of poverty. Cultural and institutional factors also play a role. Researchers have argued, for instance, that cultural norms of collectivism shape how entrepreneurs define themselves. They are likely to prioritise their roles as mentors or community safety net. This constrains their ability to innovate and grow their businesses.

We wanted to explore an entrepreneurship-focused intervention in more detail. Specifically, why do some people seem more inclined than others to adopt these new behaviours?

In a recent paper we set out our findings based on a study we conducted with 25 participants in northern Kenya. We built on our combined interests in entrepreneurship in resource-constrained environments, identity theory, and community development. We found that programme participants responded to the intervention in very different ways, and that religion helped explain these differences.

Our findings have implications for interventions promoting entrepreneurship as a means to reduce poverty. First, such interventions can create profound identity tensions for participants and so their proponents need to take into account local cultures much more than is commonly the case. Second, entrepreneurship-focused interventions can change participants’ behaviours in ways that potentially disadvantage the poorest community members, leading to greater inequality at the community level.

On the ground

The development intervention we examined was aimed at fostering entrepreneurship in extremely poor pastoralist communities. The programme built on a small government cash transfer and put recipients into savings groups of up to 30 people. Participants were encouraged to start small businesses in these group discussions. They also received training in life skills and basic financial and business skills, such as the concept of profit and how to buy and sell goods.

We found that over the five-year period of our study, an increasing number of pastoralists began engaging in businesses involving the sale of livestock, beadwork, sugar, tea leaves, washing powder and other necessities. But we discovered that these new business-oriented behaviours created profound tensions for the participants, and participants responded in different ways.

The source of these tensions was in how individuals defined themselves within the local culture.

The collectivist culture in these communities involved norms such as nkanyit (loosely translated, respect), which meant that people should share their belongings with others. But the training and the credit repayment requirements associated with the intervention made this problematic.

To make profits and repay loans, the programme participants had to deny other community members’ requests for handouts or loans. This contravened local norms and expectations. It also created the fear that community members might curse the entrepreneur or her or his family.

One participant explained:

Business is different from what we were doing; business is not to give credits and also not to just give things to people… but people can curse you {if you say no}.

Yet participants responded to these tensions in different ways. Some (about one-third of our research participants) gave in to the existing expectations and the need to avoid curses. As a result, they gave handouts to community members and often this led to their business languishing or collapsing. One participant noted:

When I have food {business goods} in the house, I can’t tell people that I don’t have anything, and they know that I do. I just give some to avoid {curses}.“

Others, however, continued with the new business activities despite the threat of curses. We discovered that a key factor explaining this was religion.

Christians believed that their faith would protect them from curses. For some this occurred from the beginning. Others, fearful of curses early on, came to believe that curses would not apply in the context of the businesses that they wanted to keep running.

For instance, one participant argued:

Don’t give to people because of the fear of curses, just say no and pray for protection from the curses because God is great.

Implications

We highlight the importance of people’s social identities – specifically religious identities – in explaining why some participants are more likely to adopt capitalist behaviours (such as borrowing money to invest in business, or charging consumers interest on loans) than others.

Organisations delivering entrepreneurship interventions and education in contexts of extreme poverty need to be aware of what identities they are encouraging participants to construct, either directly or indirectly through training and mentorship, and even through the questions that they ask participants.

They need to be careful about creating tensions between existing cultural norms and the new concepts and behaviours they are introducing.

More broadly, there may also be unintended negative consequences at the community level. Among the research participants in our study that adopted the entrepreneur role, this was linked to a diminished willingness to support poor community members. So, even if participants in the programme benefit through higher incomes, their entrepreneurial behaviours reduce traditional habits of giving to the needy. This could increase hardships for the very poor and create greater inequalities.

This article is co-authored by Jody Delichte, and it is based on her PhD research at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Jody currently works as an international development and culture consultant. We are grateful to Jeremy Upane for his translation support in the field.

– Entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty? Study in rural Kenya shows why it doesn’t always work
– https://theconversation.com/entrepreneurship-as-a-way-out-of-poverty-study-in-rural-kenya-shows-why-it-doesnt-always-work-246700

MIL OSI Africa –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity. and co-Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh

There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.

Many health services across the African continent rely heavily on overseas aid to provide essential care. International funding supports everything from vaccines and HIV treatment to maternal health programmes.

Cuts to aid, particularly unilateral ones, can have widespread implications. For instance, about 72 million people missed out on treatment for neglected tropical diseases between 2021 and 2022 due to UK aid cuts.

The freeze of US aid to Africa in January 2025 is the latest in this trend. It’s already having significant and wide-ranging impacts across the African continent. For example, vaccination campaigns for polio eradication and HIV/Aids treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) have been stopped. This puts millions of lives at risk. In South Africa alone, the cut of Pepfar’s US$400 million a year to HIV programmes risks patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.

President Donald Trump’s actions have highlighted Africa’s reliance on foreign aid for health funding. I’m a global health expert who sits on various funding and advisory boards, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK government and boards of global resource mobilisation organisations. I am well aware of the competing funding priorities for international funders and have long advocated for local, sustainable health funding mechanisms.

Long-term strategies to reduce aid dependency are critical. Breaking away from this current funding status requires concerted efforts building on proven best practice.

Read more:
How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid

Country-leadership and ownership

African countries currently face the unique challenge of simultaneously dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

But Africa’s health systems are not sufficiently resourced. They’re not able to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable healthcare to address these challenges.

African governments spend less than 10% of their GDP on health, amounting to capital expenditure of US$4.5 billion. This falls short of the estimated US$26 billion annual investment needed to meet evolving health needs.

Aid goes towards filling this funding gap. For example, in 2021, half of sub-Saharan African countries relied on external financing, such as grants and loans, for more than one-third of their health expenditures.

Foreign aid has helped. But it clearly leaves African countries vulnerable to the political mood swings among funders.

It also leads to loss of self-determination in terms of health priorities as, ultimately, the funder determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease, such as HIV. This leads to poorly integrated health services. For instance health workers or services are channelled into managing a single disease.

New, underutilised financing options

The current trajectory of reduced aid to Africa is likely to continue. Global aid is being directed to other challenges, such as conflict and illegal immigration.

The continent cannot continue on the same path while hoping for different outcomes. Africa needs to grow a range of immediately available domestic financing options. Many of these are underutilised and include:

1.) Diversifying domestic resource mobilisation. This should include commodity taxation to fund health. For instance, tobacco taxes which are currently underutilised in Africa.

Zimbabwe offers a successful example. It has bridged donor resource gaps through its 3% Aids levy (started in 1999). Imposed on both individual and corporate incomes, it funds domestic HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment programmes.

Nigeria’s another country that’s taken initiative, prioritising domestic budget allocation to health. It recently absorbed the 28,000 healthworkers formerly paid by USAid. This demonstrates that domestic health financing in Africa is possible.

2.) More private-public partnerships. Formed between local and international philanthropies or institutions, these can bridge financing gaps.

One successful example is the 2015 health service provision partnership between the Kenyan government and GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare provides radiography equipment and services which the government pays for over time. This allows the government to budget and plan healthcare expenditure over several years.

3.) Promotion of regional integration to boost local production. This will reduce the need for aid-funded imported medical products.

For instance, the African Union’s harmonised Africa Medicines Authority registration facility creates a single continental market for medicines. This supports local producers and exporters, by allowing them to operate on a larger scale. It also makes production and distribution more cost-effective. Finally, it reduces the reliance on imported medicines, strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical industry.

4.) Leverage development finance institutions. These are specialised financial organisations – such as the Africa Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. They can provide capital and expertise to projects deemed too risky for traditional investors. This includes support for health financing for infrastructure development, private sector development for small and medium-sized enterprises and the regional integration.

One transformative initiative is the AfricInvest investment platform. With support from development finance institutions in the US and Europe, AfricInvest has raised over US$100 million for health investment in Africa. It has funded at least 45 dialysis facilities in Africa, delivering over 130,000 dialysis sessions annually, primarily to remote and underserved communities all at affordable costs.

A combination of these approaches at national, regional and continental level will accelerate Africa’s withdrawal from aid dependency.

Francisca Mutapi receives funding from the Aspen Global Innovation Programme, Scottish Funding Council funding to the University of Edinburgh, Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy and the Royal Society. Francisca Mutapi is the Deputy Director of the Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) Partnership and Deputy Board Chair of Uniting to Combat NTDS. She sits on the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and WHO Africa Regional Director’s Scientific Advisory Groups.

– ref. Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this – https://theconversation.com/africa-relies-too-heavily-on-foreign-aid-for-health-4-ways-to-fix-this-249886

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Samaila Zubairu of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Succeeds Prof. Benedict Oramah of Afreximbank to Lead the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI)

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, February 24, 2025/APO Group/ —

The Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), also known as the Africa Club, has announced the appointment of Samaila Zubairu as its new Chairperson.

Mr. Zubairu, President and CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), succeeds AAMFI’s founding Chair, Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). His appointment was confirmed at the fifth meeting of the AAMFI Governing Council on 16^th February 2025, on the sidelines of the 38^th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.

Additionally, Dr Corneille Karekezi, Group Managing Director and CEO Africa Re Corporation (Africa Re) and Mr Manuel Moses, Chief Executive Officer of the African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), were appointed as the first and second Vice Chairpersons of the AAMFI Governing Council, respectively.

Established in 2024, AAMFI brings together Africa’s leading multilateral financial institutions to promote sustainable economic growth and financial self-reliance for the continent. The Alliance plays a critical role in strengthening intra-African collaboration, mobilising capital for development, and advocating for Africa’s economic interests on the global stage.

Under Prof. Oramah’s leadership, AAMFI made significant strides, including its successful launch by African Heads of State in February 2024, the adoption of its governing Charter, the admission of 3 new members: Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), African Solidarity Fund (ASF), and East African Development Bank (EADB), increasing its membership from seven founding members to a total of ten members.

Prof. Oramah’s leadership also saw the endorsement and recognition of AAMFI by key African Union organs and stakeholders, as well as successful elevation of the profile of the Alliance highlighting its key role in shaping discussions around African multilateral and development finance.

“I want to thank the leadership of AAMFI for entrusting me with this mandate. Looking back at what we have achieved, I am reminded of the immense potential and responsibility that lies ahead. AAMFI has laid a strong foundation for Africa’s financial sovereignty, but there is still much more to be done. I am confident that under the leadership of Mr. Samaila Zubairu, the Africa will continue to drive impactful collaborations and innovative financial solutions to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation,” said Prof. Oramah, in his statement during the handover ceremony. “

As Chair, Zubairu will drive collaborative growth by strengthening partnerships among member institutions, African governments, and global agencies to build a robust financial architecture. His agenda prioritizes youth empowerment through industrialization, financial literacy, and pension reforms, strategic investments in infrastructure, and developing capital markets to enhance liquidity and intra-African investment. He will also advocate for cross-border capital mobilization and early warning systems to prevent financial vulnerabilities, ensuring Africa’s economic resilience and long-term prosperity.

While accepting the Chairmanship of the AAMFI for 2025, Mr Zubairu said: I am deeply honored to assume the chairmanship of AAMFI at this pivotal moment for Africa’s economic transformation. Our collective mission is clear—to build a robust financial architecture that captures and retains value within the continent, mobilizes African capital for African priorities, and accelerate the infrastructure development that enables industrialization. By fostering deeper intra-African collaboration, and strengthening our institutions, we will unlock opportunities that create high-quality jobs, drive innovation, and secure our long-term economic resilience. I look forward to working with my esteemed colleagues to chart a path toward true financial sovereignty and sustainable prosperity for Africa.”

Mr. Zubairu’s leadership of AFC since 2018 has been pivotal to mobilising capital for infrastructure, industrialization and trade across Africa. AFC leads some of the continent’s most significant infrastructure projects, including the Lobito Corridor, Africa’s largest rail project, and transformative renewable energy initiatives such as the Lekela Power and Red Sea Power wind generation projects, and Xlinks, which is set to export electricity from the Sahara to Europe. Under his stewardship, AFC has doubled assets invested to $15 billion, and expanded membership from 18 countries to 44, representing 80% of African nations.

Members commended Prof. Oramah on his successful leadership and tenure and pledged their commitment and support towards a successful year for Mr Zubairu as the new Chairperson of AAMFI.

AAMFI members include AFC, Afreximbank, Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group), African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), Shelter Afrique Development Bank (SHAFDB), ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company), East African Development Bank (EADB), African Solidarity Fund (ASF), and the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA).

MIL OSI Africa –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity. and co-Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh

There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.

Many health services across the African continent rely heavily on overseas aid to provide essential care. International funding supports everything from vaccines and HIV treatment to maternal health programmes.

Cuts to aid, particularly unilateral ones, can have widespread implications. For instance, about 72 million people missed out on treatment for neglected tropical diseases between 2021 and 2022 due to UK aid cuts.

The freeze of US aid to Africa in January 2025 is the latest in this trend. It’s already having significant and wide-ranging impacts across the African continent. For example, vaccination campaigns for polio eradication and HIV/Aids treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) have been stopped. This puts millions of lives at risk. In South Africa alone, the cut of Pepfar’s US$400 million a year to HIV programmes risks patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.

President Donald Trump’s actions have highlighted Africa’s reliance on foreign aid for health funding. I’m a global health expert who sits on various funding and advisory boards, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK government and boards of global resource mobilisation organisations. I am well aware of the competing funding priorities for international funders and have long advocated for local, sustainable health funding mechanisms.

Long-term strategies to reduce aid dependency are critical. Breaking away from this current funding status requires concerted efforts building on proven best practice.

Read more: How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid

Country-leadership and ownership

African countries currently face the unique challenge of simultaneously dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

But Africa’s health systems are not sufficiently resourced. They’re not able to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable healthcare to address these challenges.

African governments spend less than 10% of their GDP on health, amounting to capital expenditure of US$4.5 billion. This falls short of the estimated US$26 billion annual investment needed to meet evolving health needs.

Aid goes towards filling this funding gap. For example, in 2021, half of sub-Saharan African countries relied on external financing, such as grants and loans, for more than one-third of their health expenditures.

Foreign aid has helped. But it clearly leaves African countries vulnerable to the political mood swings among funders.

It also leads to loss of self-determination in terms of health priorities as, ultimately, the funder determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease, such as HIV. This leads to poorly integrated health services. For instance health workers or services are channelled into managing a single disease.

New, underutilised financing options

The current trajectory of reduced aid to Africa is likely to continue. Global aid is being directed to other challenges, such as conflict and illegal immigration.

The continent cannot continue on the same path while hoping for different outcomes. Africa needs to grow a range of immediately available domestic financing options. Many of these are underutilised and include:

1.) Diversifying domestic resource mobilisation. This should include commodity taxation to fund health. For instance, tobacco taxes which are currently underutilised in Africa.

Zimbabwe offers a successful example. It has bridged donor resource gaps through its 3% Aids levy (started in 1999). Imposed on both individual and corporate incomes, it funds domestic HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment programmes.

Nigeria’s another country that’s taken initiative, prioritising domestic budget allocation to health. It recently absorbed the 28,000 healthworkers formerly paid by USAid. This demonstrates that domestic health financing in Africa is possible.

2.) More private-public partnerships. Formed between local and international philanthropies or institutions, these can bridge financing gaps.

One successful example is the 2015 health service provision partnership between the Kenyan government and GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare provides radiography equipment and services which the government pays for over time. This allows the government to budget and plan healthcare expenditure over several years.

3.) Promotion of regional integration to boost local production. This will reduce the need for aid-funded imported medical products.

For instance, the African Union’s harmonised Africa Medicines Authority registration facility creates a single continental market for medicines. This supports local producers and exporters, by allowing them to operate on a larger scale. It also makes production and distribution more cost-effective. Finally, it reduces the reliance on imported medicines, strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical industry.

4.) Leverage development finance institutions. These are specialised financial organisations – such as the Africa Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. They can provide capital and expertise to projects deemed too risky for traditional investors. This includes support for health financing for infrastructure development, private sector development for small and medium-sized enterprises and the regional integration.

One transformative initiative is the AfricInvest investment platform. With support from development finance institutions in the US and Europe, AfricInvest has raised over US$100 million for health investment in Africa. It has funded at least 45 dialysis facilities in Africa, delivering over 130,000 dialysis sessions annually, primarily to remote and underserved communities all at affordable costs.

A combination of these approaches at national, regional and continental level will accelerate Africa’s withdrawal from aid dependency.

– Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this
– https://theconversation.com/africa-relies-too-heavily-on-foreign-aid-for-health-4-ways-to-fix-this-249886

MIL OSI Africa –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE COLLECTS $10,739,347.57 IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTIONS IN FISCAL YEAR 2024

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Michelle Spaven, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced today that the Northern District of Florida collected $10,739,347.57 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2024. Of this amount, $6,129,268.26 was collected in criminal actions and $4,610,079.31 was collected in civil actions.

“Our office’s civil and criminal divisions, in coordination with our federal, state, and local law partners, have continued to work tirelessly to collect funds owed the America people in both criminal and civil matters,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Spaven. “These efforts recover funds owed in civil and criminal debts and are used to punish criminals, make victims whole, and return funds to the federal treasury.”

For example, in November, 2023, Chad Wade pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud, for acts of COVID-related fraud. He was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment, ordered to pay restitution to the United States Small Business Administration in the amount of about $1.58 million, and ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.00. In FY 2024, the Northern District of Florida collected the full amount of the restitution. In addition to the criminal judgment, the Northern District of Florida obtained a civil judgment under the False Claims Act for over $4 million, of which over $2.2 million has been collected. The total amount collected from Wade is over $3.8 million.

In November, 2022, Kathleen Jasper pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets. She was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution to the Florida Department of Education in the amount of $135,026.00. In FY 2024, the Northern District of Florida recovered the full amount of the restitution, including over $20,000 through the Treasury Offset Program.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Northern District of Florida, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $10,417,393 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2024. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

MIL Security OSI –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Why religion is fundamental to addressing climate change

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hanane Benadi, Research Officer, Religion and Global Society, London School of Economics and Political Science

“There is no time for imagination, religious or otherwise. We need to act now!” an irritated scientist told me during a workshop on climate change and religion in 2024. Contrary to the tone of his comment, this scientist was not dismissing religion as being marginal to tackling climate change, but his underlying assumption rang clear: religion, while undoubtedly a necessary part of the solution, is only useful if it works alongside rational science.

Research by me and my colleagues suggests that framing religion and science as totally separate entities is unhelpful in advancing a global response to climate change.

In 2022 and 2023, I spent four months conducting fieldwork in Egypt, living and interacting with Muslim and Christian communities in Cairo and Alexandria. As a salient reminder of the ongoing climate crisis, my research took place over the summer, when temperatures reached more than 45°C.

These heatwaves were a part of everyday discussions, but I didn’t hear only scientific jargon used to refer to these phenomena. Often, religion was the language used to make sense of the heat.

As an Anglican priest in Alexandria told me, members of his congregation understood these heatwaves as manifestations of climate change, but at the same time asked him: “What is God is trying to tell us? Is this a sign of his anger? What should we do?” In other words, while scientific knowledge was used to explain the extreme heat, religion gave it meaning.

Building a global response to the climate crisis requires us to learn about the many ways people make sense of climate change and learn to live with its consequences. And for most of the world’s population, a purely scientific framing is unhelpful.

Science v religion?

The long-perceived tension between religion and science seems to be reappearing today as we confront climate change. The scientist’s reaction to my work is one example of this, which left me wondering: what role is religion playing in tackling climate change globally? And how often is it framed as a field outside of science?

Unfortunately, the approach adopted on the global climate stage seems to perpetuate a hierarchy of knowledge that implies that science trumps social and cultural influences such as religion and ethics. It is telling that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the preeminent global body on climate policy, still relies heavily on hard science in presenting its findings, despite efforts in its latest reports to highlight the role of social sciences and humanities, including religion, can play.

With my team from the LSE Religion and Global Society research unit, I ran a climate change and religion workshop in Cairo with Muslim and Christian female and male faith leaders. Many of the 30 participants explained they felt frustrated that the climate science lens dominates.

One member of a faith-based organisation told me during an interview after the workshop that: “We are often approached by western organisations and research institutions to collaborate. However, when we ask about the nature of these collaborations, it is often reduced to our logo and a couple of statements that tell people that they should care about climate change.”

Rather than taking religion seriously on its own terms, climate science often shapes what kind of role religion should play in communicating climate change. This is a problem.

Science meets religion

Our current work with female scientists in Egypt is teaching us that in many non-western countries, such as Egypt, the religious and the scientific cannot be as easily untangled as some might like to think.

I asked an Egyptian scientist who has been working on water management for the last 30 years how she sees the future of water in her country. She began her response with a verse from the Quran before turning to a scientific explanation of what that entails.

While much of her work is informed by scientific models of reason that underpin the Egyptian state’s nationalist development projects, she can hold together scientific and religious ethical modes of reasoning. Bringing an understanding of this overlap to international climate policy is critical for creating global solidarity around this issue.

Fortunately, things are changing. Through initiatives such as the UN Environment Programme’s Faith for Earth Coalition and the faith pavilion at recent UN climate summits, religious groups are becoming more prevalent and active on the global climate stage.

But efforts to seek collaborations between scientists and faith communities are not good enough. We need to resist the urge to see religion as a mere vehicle for convincing most of the global population for whom religion gives meaning to life. The only way we can do that is for scientists and faith leaders to start laying the groundwork for new ways of thinking together.

As Russian author Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “Science is meaningless because it has no answer to the only questions that matter to us: ‘What should we do and how shall we live?‘” The climate crisis demands new ways of thinking, new ways of perceiving reality, and religion is fundamental to achieving that.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

Hanane Benadi receives funding from British Academy.

Hanane Benadi is a Research Officer at the London School of Economics

– ref. Why religion is fundamental to addressing climate change – https://theconversation.com/why-religion-is-fundamental-to-addressing-climate-change-248074

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: World Health Organization (WHO) commits to enhancing Nigeria’s capacity to tackle influenza threat

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

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Following an alert of a highly pathogenic avian Influenza (H5N1) outbreak in poultry, commonly known as bird flu, in Kano state, the World Health Organization ( WHO) has stepped up its support to the Government of Nigeria to prevent transmission of the virus to humans. While the virus spreads rapidly among birds, it also has the potential to infect mammals, including humans. It poses a significant threat to both animal and public health.

Overview of the outbreak

The virus primarily affects poultry but can also infect humans who come in direct contact with the infected live or dead birds or contaminated environments, such as saliva, nasal discharges, and faeces, which contain high toxins.

Preventive measures against bird flu include biosecurity measures in poultry farms and live bird markets, avoiding contact with sick birds, proper hygiene, surveillance, and early reporting of outbreaks. Other states aside, Kano has reported cases of bird flu among poultry.

At the time of writing this report, there has been no human infection from the disease.

WHO collaborative support to the outbreak

To prevent transmission to humans, WHO team in Kano state leverage the State One Health Technical Working Group (TWG) and Influenza TWG to coordinate an interagency response to the situation.

The One Health and Influenza TWGs comprises inter-agency members, including the Ministries of Health, Veterinary/ Agriculture, and Environment.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has supported the establishment of 10 National Influenza Sentinel Surveillance (NISS) sites, including Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and nine other hospitals across Nigeria’s six Geopolitical zones. In 2024, 814 samples were collected from these sites and transported to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja for respiratory virus testing, in line with the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).

“To help with the response in Kano State, WHO provided over 100 PPE kits. These kits included 1,000 gloves, 500 aprons, 500 face shields, 20 rain boots, and other items. These kits protect healthcare workers and other personnel on the field from exposure to the virus, ensuring their safety while they manage and contain the outbreak.

WHO also supplied laboratory materials for collecting samples from people showing symptoms of flu-like illnesses or severe respiratory infections,” explained Dr Mayana Abubakar, WHO Kano State Coordinator.

Dr Mayana mentioned that in 2024, WHO helped train over 100 health workers from the NISS sites on preparing for and responding to pandemic influenza. This training aimed to improve surveillance, response, and close monitoring of human contacts for early intervention.

Dr Ibrahim Aliyu Gano, Director of Public Health and Disease Control, Kano State Ministry of Health, applauding WHO’s support, said, “ We appreciate WHO’s steadfast support in helping us tackle this outbreak. Their donation and timely intervention help protect lives and contain the transmission of the disease.

As of 25 January 2025, Kano, Nigeria, reported six confirmed HPAI cases and 4,470 suspected cases of bird flu. So far, there has been no human infection from 15 specimens tested from 20 suspected cases while awaiting the result of five samples.

The WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, has assured that with the existing national capacity, which has been built over the period and from the previous bird flu emergencies experience, “we could swiftly scale up the efforts. WHO is committed to working with Nigerian authorities and partners to ensure that measures are in place for effective and rapid actions to mitigate transmission to humans”, he added.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Nigeria.

MIL OSI Africa –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Orca Energy Group Inc. Announces Prepayment of International Finance Corporation Loan, Settlement of Supplementary Gas Sales Agreement and Judgment of the Tanzanian High Court

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orca Energy Group Inc. (“Orca” or the “Company” and includes its subsidiaries and affiliates) (TSX-V: ORC.A, ORC.B) announces that it has permanently prepaid the US$60 million investment (the “Loan“) made by International Finance Corporation (“IFC“) in the Company’s operating subsidiary, PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited (“PAET“), pursuant to a loan agreement dated October 29, 2015 among IFC, PAET and the Company (the “Loan Agreement“). To effect the foregoing prepayment, the Company paid to IFC US$30.6 million, representing the aggregate outstanding principal of the Loan together with all accrued interest thereon and all other amounts owing in connection with the Loan as of February 21, 2025.

As of the date hereof, the annual variable participating interest granted by PAET to IFC under the terms of the Loan Agreement remains outstanding.

In addition, Orca announces PAET has reached an agreement with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (“TPDC“) and the Tanzania Portland Cement Company Limited (“TPCC“) in respect to the SGSA (defined below). In 2008, PAET, TPDC and TPCC signed a Gas Sale Agreement (“2008 GSA“) for the supply of Additional Gas (defined below) to TPCC’s Wazo Hill plant (“Wazo Hill“). At the same time, TPDC supplied Protected Gas (defined below) to Wazo Hill. In anticipation of the cessation of Protected Gas on July 31, 2024, PAET and TPCC negotiated a Supplementary Gas Sales Agreement (“SGSA“) to supply to Wazo Hill increased volumes of gas to replace Protected Gas. The SGSA is arranged to operate alongside the original 2008 GSA.

The price of natural gas sold to TPCC is based on the contracted prices as set out in the Amendment Agreement No 2 to the 2008 GSA agreed to in October 2017, plus an estimation of the Songas transportation tariff as determined by the energy regulator, Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority. The gas price under the SGSA is lower than that of the 2008 GSA, affording TPCC a commercially viable blended gas price across the two contracts. Initially, TPDC opposed the SGSA, but an agreement was reached with TPDC in January 2025 and the SGSA was executed, effective August 1, 2024.

“Additional Gas” and “Protected Gas” as used in the 2008 GSA and SGSA are defined in the Songo Songo Production Sharing Agreement between TPDC, the Government of Tanzania and PAET and the Gas Agreement between the Government of Tanzania, TPDC, Songas Limited (“Songas“) and PAET.

In addition, Orca announces it has received a judgment (the “Judgment“) from the Tanzanian High Court (Commercial Division) (the “Court“) for a claim brought by a contractor against PAET. The claim was brought by the contractor for losses arising from PAET’s termination of a contract relating to the Company’s 3D seismic acquisition program. The contract was signed in 2022 and works were due to be completed by the end of 2022. However, work only commenced in 2023 and was never completed. Pursuant to the Judgment, the Court ordered specific and general damages in the aggregate of US$23,100,451, plus legal costs and interest at a rate of 7% per annum be paid by PAET to the contractor. PAET respectfully disagrees with the Judgment and is currently preparing to launch an appeal. It is likely PAET will be required to post-security for the full amount of the judgment until the appeal is resolved.

Jay Lyons, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“We are pleased to have successfully prepaid our US$60 million loan with the IFC. We are grateful to the IFC for their financial support with developing the Songo Songo Field for the benefit of the nation of Tanzania. While we acknowledge the Judgment awarded by the Commercial Court regarding the claim by the contractor, we intend to seek a review of the decision and appeal the Judgment, as the Board remain of the view that the Company’s actions with regard to termination of the contract for the 3D seismic program were legally fair and just.

Taking into account these recent events, Orca continues to possess a robust cash position and is performing in line with previous guidance operationally.”

Orca Energy Group Inc.

Orca Energy Group Inc. is an international public company engaged in natural gas development and supply in Tanzania through PAET. Orca trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbols ORC.B and ORC.A.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information regarding Orca set forth in this news release, including but not limited to Orca’s ability to continue regular distributions to shareholders constitutes “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. The words “may”, “will”, “would”, “should”, “could”, “expects”, “plans”, “intends”, “trends”, “indications”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “likely” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words or other comparable words or phrases, are intended to identify forward-looking information. More particularly, this news release contains, without limitation, forward-looking information pertaining to the following: timing as to when PAET will submit it appeal; that PAET will be required to post-security in respect of the appeal and the timing of such security; the assessment by the Company of the merits of the seeking the appeal; the Company’s liabilities pursuant to the appeal; and that the Company will continues to be in a robust cash position and will continue to perform operationally in line with previous guidance. Forward-looking information, by its very nature, involves inherent risks and uncertainties and is based on several assumptions, both general and specific. Orca cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although believed reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Such forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of Orca to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such information.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable Canadian securities laws.

The MIL Network –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/NIGERIA – Two Catholic priests kidnapped in the north-east of Nigeria

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) – Two priests were kidnapped in the early hours of Saturday, February 22. Father Matthew David Dutsemi, of the diocese of Yola, and Father Abraham Saummam, of the diocese of Jalingo, were captured by armed men who, in the early hours of February 22, raided the rectory where the two Catholic priests were staying in Gweda-Mallam, in the Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State, in the north-east of Nigeria.In a note to the faithful, the Diocese of Yola asks for “prayers that the two priests be released quickly and safely”. “We place our hope and trust in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, to bring them to safety,” the statement reads. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 24/2/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Bitget Announces Pre-Market Trading for Memhash (MEMHASH)

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget, the leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company, has introduced Memhash (MEMHASH) to its pre-market trading platform, allowing users to engage in MEMHASH transactions ahead of its official spot market debut.

Bitget’s pre-market trading platform serves as an over-the-counter marketplace, enabling buyers and sellers to negotiate and execute trades for new tokens before their official listing. This setup allows participants to secure potential liquidity and agree on delivery terms in advance. Sellers are not required to possess the new tokens at the time of the transaction but must ensure delivery by the agreed-upon date to avoid penalties.

Memhash is a Telegram mini-game offering rewards through a mining process, allowing users to immediately start earning with a single button in the mini-app on their devices. It combines the simplicity of gaming with the technical sophistication of blockchain, introducing the same Hashcash mechanism as Bitcoin to provide rewards. Thousands of miners’ devices run simultaneously, providing massive computing power during the game. 600,000+ active users contributed computing power with at least one device during the first season, which makes Memhash one of the largest DePIN projects in the world by active user count.

Bitget has become the go-to platform for crypto enthusiasts, offering an extensive range of over 800 coins and 900 trading pairs. Since its introduction in April 2024, Bitget’s pre-market platform has facilitated early access to over 150 high-profile projects such as EigenLayer (EIGEN), Zerolend (ZERO), Notcoin (NOT), and ZkSync (ZKSYNC), providing a unique opportunity for investors to engage with emerging tokens at an early stage. These initiatives have consistently aligned with Bitget’s focus on supporting the growth of blockchain ecosystems, enabling users to engage with innovative projects across Ethereum, Solana, Base, TON, and other leading platforms.

For more information and to participate in the pre-market trading of Memhash (MEMHASH) users can visit here.

About Bitget

Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 100 million users in 150+ countries and regions, the Bitget exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, while offering real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a world-class multi-chain crypto wallet that offers an array of comprehensive Web3 solutions and features including wallet functionality, token swap, NFT Marketplace, DApp browser, and more.

Bitget is at the forefront of driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, such as its role as the Official Crypto Partner of the World’s Top Football League, LALIGA, in EASTERN, SEA and LATAM market, as well as a global partner of Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team), to inspire the global community to embrace the future of cryptocurrency.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord | Bitget Wallet

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bitget.com

Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.

Contact

Simran Alphonso

media@bitget.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f7eb634c-142a-440d-979f-8f479297b321

The MIL Network –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Bitget Lists Zoo Adding it to Spot Trading

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget, the leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company, has announced the listing of Zoo ($ZOO). Zoo is a popular game on the messaging platform Telegram. Spot trading will begin on 25 February, 12:00 (UTC) with withdrawals available on 26 February 2025, 13:00 (UTC).

Launched in December 2024, Zoo is a play-to-earn game on the TON network in which users build and manage virtual zoos to earn ZOO tokens. Players earn in-game Zoo tokens by creating enclosures that attract visitors. Millions of players have built digital zoos within the Telegram mini app from its launch up to the end of the mining phase at the end of Jan 2025.

Previously, it was shared that one in-game Zoo token equaled one Zoo token. However, developers have since clarified that the final token amount will have the last three digits removed. For example, 1,000,000,000 in-game tokens will convert to 1,000,000 ZOO tokens. The airdrop claim period ends on February 25, 09:00 (UTC). Players will subsequently need to claim their tokens on-chain, which includes a fee of 0.1 TON.

Bitget continues to expand its offerings, positioning itself as a leading platform for cryptocurrency trading. The exchange has established a reputation for innovative solutions that empower users to explore crypto within a secure CeDeFi ecosystem. With an extensive selection of over 800 cryptocurrency pairs and a commitment to broaden its offerings to more than 900 trading pairs, Bitget connects users to various ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Base, and TON. The addition of $ZOO into Bitget’s portfolio marks a significant step toward expanding its ecosystem by embracing niche communities and fostering innovation in decentralized economies, further solidifying its role as a gateway to diverse Web3 projects and cultural movements.

For more details on $ZOO, users can visit here.

About Bitget

Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 100 million users in 150+ countries and regions, the Bitget exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, while offering real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a world-class multi-chain crypto wallet that offers an array of comprehensive Web3 solutions and features including wallet functionality, token swap, NFT Marketplace, DApp browser, and more.

Bitget is at the forefront of driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, such as its role as the Official Crypto Partner of the World’s Top Football League, LALIGA, in EASTERN, SEA and LATAM markets, as well as a global partner of Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team), to inspire the global community to embrace the future of cryptocurrency.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord | Bitget Wallet

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bitget.com

Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.

Contact

Simran Alphonso

media@bitget.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/23f4384c-21e6-4fd7-acc9-f8ce46ea0a2c

The MIL Network –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Remarks to Somare-Whitlam scholars welcome event

Source: Australian Government – Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Acknowledgments omitted]

Prime Minister, that you are here this evening speaks to the depth of our relationship.

Neighbours, friends, equal partners. One of the nicest things in my job is that the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea calls me ‘sister’.

It is such an important relationship to both our countries.

I want to start by acknowledging also those who we’re here to celebrate – our 2025 Australia Awards Somare-Whitlam scholars. Congratulations.

There’s nothing that spells ‘great expectations’ than being the recipient of a scholarship named after two of our greatest prime ministers.

You have all worked incredibly hard to get here.

You’ve done your family and your wantok proud.

This is an opportunity to further your education and take new skills, knowledge and experience back to PNG, for the betterment of your country and this relationship.

I hope it is also an opportunity for the Australians you will meet – I hope they will also have the privilege of learning from you, as I have learnt from the Prime Minister and his colleagues, and his people – learn about the traditions and history that binds our two countries.

Those connections are perhaps the most enduring benefits of the Somare-Whitlam scholarships.

You see, history can turn on the hinge of personal relationships.

In 1969, when then opposition leader Gough Whitlam was visiting Wewak, he was challenged by a young man who asked:

“So when is Australia going to give us our independence?”

Whitlam shot back:

“How about tomorrow?”

The young man was local trade union secretary, Michael Somare.

And this exchange was the start of a friendship between the two men that changed the course of history for both our nations.

Obviously, independence wasn’t quite as quick as ‘tomorrow’.

Gough Whitlam visited PNG six times before becoming prime minister.

And it was I think in great part, those visits and the personal ties which led him to believe in the imperative for PNG’s independence.

And when he did become Prime Minister in 1972, those personal ties made all the difference.

By 1975, Michael Somare and Gough Whitlam sat side-by-side at PNG’s independence ceremony.

Two friends – now leaders – were making good on a promise six years prior.

Two friends planting the tree.

So it is with great honour and friendship that we mark fifty years since PNG’s independence today.

An opportunity to reflect on Australia’s partnership with PNG, over the last 50 years and the next 50 – in which all of you are playing a part.

Yumi Stap Wantaim – we stand together.

Australia and PNG have always stood side by side. Sir Michael and Gough stood side by side and we now walk with you, step by step, into a shared future.

As Gough said in 1975, “Australia wants the closest possible relationship with her nearest neighbour, the new nation of Papua New Guinea. A relationship of equals, based on mutual respect, understanding and trust”.

That is the basis of which the Albanese Government seeks to work with the Government of Prime Minister Marape, the Government of Papua New Guinea.

Amongst the areas we’re working together is obviously education, and improving access to education for all to build an even stronger PNG over the coming fifty years.

I end tonight by making two points.

First, to reiterate my congratulations to the recipients of the Somare-Whitlam Awards, and the Australia Awards scholars also here today.

I hope your studies here I hope are the beginning of a lifelong association with Australia, and a contribution to the future partnership between our countries.

Finally, Prime Minister – you spoke when I was in PNG with you last year, so passionately about the importance of this 50th anniversary, and we see that tonight in how you speak.

You spoke about how important it was that the people of Papua New Guinea, and the people of Australia understand what this has been and who we are to one another.

It’s so important that we understand what our future together can look like.

So, I want to thank you for bringing that passion and that insight to our country and to our leaders.

I want to thank you for honoring us with your presence today and that of your delegation. And I want to thank you for your friendship to Australia.

MIL OSI News –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Bitget Introduces Bank Deposits with Callpay Integration, Enabling ZAR Access for South African Users

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, and Web3 company, is pleased to announce its integration with Callpay, a trusted payment solutions provider, to offer deposit and withdrawal services in South African Rand (ZAR). This integration marks a significant step in Bitget’s mission to enhance accessibility and streamline fiat-to-crypto transactions for users in South Africa and beyond.

The collaboration with Callpay enables Bitget users to seamlessly deposit and withdraw ZAR, providing a secure and efficient gateway for South African traders to transact in the crypto market. This integration reflects Bitget’s ongoing efforts to expand its fiat offerings and cater to underserved markets, ensuring users worldwide can access digital assets with ease.

“Our partnership with Callpay underscores our commitment to making crypto trading more accessible and user-friendly,” said Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget. “By integrating ZAR deposits and withdrawals, we are empowering South African users with a reliable and convenient way to participate in the global crypto economy.”

Bitget’s integration with Callpay offers several advantages, including instant fiat-to-crypto conversions, zero deposit fees during the promotional period, and a seamless user experience. To celebrate this integration, Bitget is launching an exclusive campaign, offering users up to 25% BGB rebates on ZAR-to-crypto conversions.

The promotion runs from February 24th, 18:00 PM to March 10th, 18:00 PM UTC+8. Participants can register for the campaign by completing identity verification, making a ZAR deposit via Callpay, and converting ZAR to crypto to earn rebates. A total promotion pool of 50,000 BGB will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, with each eligible user receiving up to 25% rebates, capped at a maximum of 20 BGB per user.

For detailed instructions on how to deposit ZAR via Callpay, users can visit here.

About Bitget

Bitget is a leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company serving over 100 million users across 150+ countries and regions. The platform offers innovative trading solutions, including copy trading, and provides real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Bitget Wallet, a world-class multi-chain crypto wallet, offers comprehensive Web3 solutions, including token swaps, NFT marketplaces, and DApp browsing.

Bitget drives crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, including its role as the Official Crypto Partner of LALIGA in the EASTERN, SEA, and LATAM markets, as well as collaborations with Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist), and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team).

For more information, users can visit:

Website | Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord | Bitget Wallet

For media inquiries, users can contact:

media@bitget.com

Risk Warning:* Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, users can refer to the *Terms of Use.

Contact

Simran Alphonso

media@bitget.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f427be64-a4e6-4952-8a01-8275f2343de8

The MIL Network –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) Reflect Growing Global Interest in African Mining

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, February 24, 2025/APO Group/ —

International mining stakeholders are increasing their access to Africa’s mineral resources through joint ventures, acquisitions and stakes in local projects. Meanwhile, African countries and operators are leveraging these partnerships to enhance capital, accelerate project development and meet ambitious production targets.

The upcoming African Mining Week (AMW), taking place in Cape Town this October, will spotlight mergers and acquisitions (M&A), offering African projects a platform to showcase opportunities and providing global investors the stage to present growth strategies for Africa’s expanding mining sector.

Recent research by the Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that foreign investment in Africa’s mining industry is poised for significant growth in 2025, building on strong momentum established in 2024. Several key transactions highlight this trend. Earlier this month, UK-based Altona Rare Earths finalized its acquisition of an 85% stake in Botswana’s Sesana Copper-Silver Project from Ignate Minerals, committing significant capital to accelerate exploration and mine development. In December 2024, Australian mining firm Patriot Lithium acquired a 90% stake in Zambia’s Kitumba Copper Large Scale Exploration License from Newlight Nominees Zambia, enabling increased funding for exploration and production activities. Similarly, in October 2024, Jubilee Metals, a UK-based company, acquired Project G, its second open-pit copper asset in Zambia, as part of a strategy to boost investments and raise copper output to 25,000 tons per year.

Recent M&A activity in Africa’s mining sector is reshaping the industry, improving operational efficiencies and creating new pathways for innovation and technology transfer. For African nations, these investments bring new opportunities for job creation, infrastructure development and access to global markets, fueling economic growth. Additionally, the influx of foreign capital and expertise enhances local capabilities, enabling African countries to harness their natural resources more effectively while addressing challenges like underdeveloped supply chains and limited financing for exploration.

In South Africa, M&A activity reached $10 billion between June 2023 and 2024, with 32 deals closed, compared to 24 year-on-year, according to PwC. Among the notable deals, Kenya’s Marula Mining secured a 51% stake in South Africa’s Mansera Kruisrivier Cobalt Holding Company in July 2024, funding feasibility and aerial studies to advance the project. Meanwhile, China’s Baowu Steel Group acquired stakes in Guinea’s Simandou Project, the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposit, in June 2024. In Mali, Ganfeng Lithium secured an operational stake in the Goulamina Lithium Mine in a $342.7-million deal with Australia’s Leo Lithium in May 2024. The UAE-based International Resource Holdings also entered the market, acquiring Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines for $1.1 billion in May 2024, enhancing exploration and production capabilities at one of the country’s largest copper facilities.

As African nations focus on boosting mineral production to drive economic growth, M&A activity is expected to intensify, with global partners seeking greater stakes in the continent’s abundant resources. Against this backdrop, the upcoming AMW will play a crucial role in shaping Africa’s M&A landscape by facilitating project showcases, fostering partnerships and advancing deal signings that will define the future of the mining sector.

African Mining Week serves as a premier platform for exploring the full spectrum of mining opportunities across Africa. The event is held alongside the African Energy Week: Invest in African Energy 2025 conference (https://AECWeek.com/) from October 1 -3. in Cape Town. Sponsors, exhibitors and delegates can learn more by contacting sales@energycapitalpower.com

MIL OSI Africa –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI NGOs: UK: David Lammy must ramp up pressure on Egypt to release Alaa Abd El-Fattah at UN Human Rights Council

Source: Amnesty International –

58th session of the UN Human Rights Council begins today

25 human rights organisations have written to the UK Foreign Secretary urging a ‘strong stand’ for Abd El-Fattah

British national Abd El-Fattah has still not been released after serving an unjust 5-year prison sentence

His 68-year-old mother has been on hunger strike for over 4 months in a desperate appeal for her son

The UK must use the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) as an opportunity to lead calls for the release of British national and human rights defender Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a coalition of 25 organisations have said, in a letter sent to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week.

The letter – which was organised by FairSquare and signed by 25 leading human rights organisations including Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights and PEN International – urges the UK Foreign Secretary to make a “strong stand” by leading on a joint statement at the HRC, calling for the urgent release of Abd el-Fattah.

In the letter, the organisations note how the HRC offers an opportunity for states to “make a strong statement condemning Egypt’s ongoing repression”, adding that the Egyptian authorities continue to “crush dissent and stifle civil society, arbitrarily arresting thousands in recent years, including journalists, opposition politicians…and peaceful protesters”.

In urging the Foreign Secretary to make a stand for Abd el-Fattah’s release, the organisations say:

“We remain deeply concerned that Alaa Abd el-Fattah still has not been released after completing his unjust five year prison term in September 2024, particularly given the terrible and urgent risk to the life and health of his 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif, who has been on hunger strike since then.

“We believe that a UK-led joint statement at the Council would send a powerful message about the importance of Alaa’s emblematic case, and the necessity for Egypt to resolve this immediately, by releasing him so that he can be reunited with his son.”

The 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place in Geneva from Monday 24 February to Tuesday 4 March.

MIL OSI NGO –

February 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: APO Group Founder Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard Invited as a Special Guest to Attend the Elective General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Algeria

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

APO Group Founder Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard Invited as a Special Guest to Attend the Elective General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Algeria APO Group has been a strategic partner of ANOCA since 2022, supporting its mission to promote the Olympic values and strengthen the development of sports in Africa ALGIERS, Algeria, February 24, 2025/APO Group/ — APO Group (www.APO-opa.com), the leading award-winning pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service, is glad to announce that its Founder and Chairman, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), has been invited as a special guest to attend the Elective General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), taking place on March 14-15, 2025, in Algiers, Algeria. The invitation, extended by ANOCA President Mr. Mustapha Berraf, underscores the strong partnership between APO Group and ANOCA, as well as Mr. Pompigne-Mognard’s influential role in advancing the Olympic movement and sports development across Africa. In a letter of invitation, ANOCA expressed its honor to welcome Mr. Pompigne-Mognard, stating: “As the founder and Chairman of APO Group, we are more than honored to welcome you among us as a special guest of the ANOCA Elective General Assembly.” The event, to be held at the International Conference Center in Algiers, will bring together key stakeholders from the African Olympic community to discuss the future of sports on the continent and elect new leadership. APO Group has been a strategic partner of ANOCA since 2022, supporting its mission to promote the Olympic values and strengthen the development of sports in Africa. Reflecting on the invitation, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard said: “I am deeply honored to be invited to this prestigious event. The partnership between APO Group and ANOCA is a testament to our shared commitment to advancing the Olympic movement in Africa. I look forward to contributing to the discussions and supporting ANOCA’s vision for the future of African sports.” Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com) was named among Africa’s Top 100 Most Influential People in 2023 and in 2024. His wholly owned company, APO Group, serves as the Pan-African public relations agency for the NBA, the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the World Football Summit, and as the press release distribution service for YallaVamos 2030 – the joint bid by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup™. APO Group is also the Official Public Relations Partner and Sport Marketing Agency for Rugby Africa, Strategic Partner of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), and a Partner of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), positioning the company as a key player in African sports communications. APO Group was the Pan-African PR agency for FIFA from 2020 to 2024. Nicolas also sits on the Advisory Board of the World Football Summit and serves as Special Advisor to the President of Rugby Africa. In 2022, FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura appointed Nicolas as a member of the FIFA-CAF Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa. For more information about the strategic partnership between APO Group and ANOCA, please visit: https://apo-opa.co/43eWx8d Distributed by APO Group on behalf of APO Group. Media contact: marie@apo-opa.com About APO Group: Founded in 2007, APO Group (www.APO-opa.com) is the leading award-winning pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service. Renowned for our deep-rooted African expertise and expansive global perspective, we specialise in elevating the reputation and brand equity of private and public organisations across Africa. As a trusted partner, our mission is to harness the power of media, crafting bespoke strategies that drive tangible, measurable impact both on the continent and globally. Our commitment to excellence and innovation has been recognised with multiple prestigious awards, including the PRovoke Media Global SABRE Award and multiple PRovoke Media Africa SABRE Awards. In 2023, we were named the Leading Public Relations Firm and the Leading Pan-African Communications Consultancy in Africa in the World Business Outlook Awards, and the Best Public Relations and Media Consultancy of the Year in 2024 in the same awards. In 2025, Brands Review Magazine acknowledged us as the Leading Communications Consultancy in Africa for the second consecutive year. They also named us the Best PR Agency and the Leading Press Release Distribution Platform in Africa in 2025. APO Group’s esteemed clientele, which includes global giants such as Canon, Nestlé, Western Union, the UNDP, Network International, African Energy Chamber, Mercy Ships, Marriott, Africa’s Business Heroes, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies, reflects our unparalleled ability to navigate the complex African media landscape. With teams on the ground in numerous African countries, we offer unmatched insights and reach across the continent. APO Group is dedicated to reshaping narratives about Africa, challenging stereotypes, and bringing inspiring African stories to global audiences, with our expertise in developing and supporting public relations campaigns worldwide uniquely positioning us to amplify brand messaging, enhance reputations, and connect effectively with target audiences.

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MIL OSI Africa –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI NGOs: Sudan: MSF forced to halt our activities as violence engulfs Zamzam camp in North Darfur
Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –
MSF has taken the difficult decision to suspend all activities in Zamzam camp, Sudan, which hosts around 500,000 people seeking safety from the conflict in Sudan.

This comes after an escalation of attacks in and around Zamzam camp.

We will continue to look for every opportunity to help people in Zamzam camp without exposing our staff to unacceptable levels of risk, and urges all armed actors in the area to protect civilians.
Port Sudan – The current escalation of attacks and fighting in and around Zamzam camp for displaced people near El Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan, is making it impossible for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to continue providing medical assistance in such dangerous conditions. Despite widespread starvation and immense humanitarian needs, we have no choice but to take the decision to suspend all our activities in the camp, including the MSF field hospital.

In the first three weeks of February, our teams in Zamzam received 139 wounded patients in our field hospital, mostly suffering from gunshot and shrapnel injuries. Designed to help tackle the massive malnutrition crisis unfolding in the camp, which was declared as undergoing famine conditions by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification last year, the MSF facility cannot provide trauma surgery for people in critical conditions.

“Eleven patients died while in the MSF hospital, five of them children, because we could neither treat them properly nor refer them to Saudi hospital, the only facility with surgical capacity in nearby El Fasher,” says Yahya Kalilah, MSF’s head of mission in Sudan. “In January and December, two of our ambulances carrying patients from the camp to El Fasher were shot at. Now it’s even more dangerous and as a result, many people, including patients requiring trauma surgery or emergency caesarean sections, are trapped in Zamzam.”

The area has seen heavy fighting between the Rapid Support Forces and the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups allied with Sudanese Armed Forces, with dreadful consequences on civilians. Besieging and shelling the town of El Fasher for the last 10 months, the Rapid Support Forces have stepped up their offensive in recent weeks and launched attacks against Zamzam camp, in particular on 11 and 12 February. People who were already struggling to survive now find their access to water and food even more compromised, as the central market has been looted and burnt down.

“Halting our project in the midst of a worsening disaster in Zamzam is a heartbreaking decision. During more than two years, our teams did their utmost to provide care against all odds, despite the siege, supply shortages, and multiple other challenges, calling and waiting for a scaled-up humanitarian response which never materialised,” says Kalilah. “However, as the battle for El Fasher rages on and now directly reaches Zamzam camp, the most minimal security conditions are currently not met for us to stay.”

“The sheer proximity of the violence, great difficulties in sending supplies, the impossibility to send experienced staff for adequate support, and uncertainty regarding routes out of the camp for our colleagues and civilians leave us with little choice,” says Kalilah.

Hosting about 500,000 people, Zamzam camp saw new arrivals fleeing from Abu Zerega, Shagra and Saluma who are now staying in schools, community buildings, or under the trees in the open. They have told our teams of dwellings set on fire, looting, sexual violence, killings, beatings and other abuses in villages and on the roads of El Fasher locality. Some hundred families also reached Tawila, sometimes barefoot after leaving everything behind and escaping horrific violence on their way.

We are deeply concerned about the safety of our staff and the hundreds of thousands of people in Zamzam camp and urges the Rapid Support Forces, the Joint Forces and all armed actors in the area to protect civilians and ensure that those willing to flee are able to do so unharmed.

In North Darfur, we continue to run emergency activities in Tawila while looking for every possible way to help people in Zamzam and El Fasher without exposing our staff to unacceptable risk levels. In West, Central and South Darfur and in other parts of the country, our teams keep responding to the catastrophic malnutrition and health crisis driven by a relentless conflict, continued obstructions of the warring parties, which are exacerbated by a failing humanitarian response.

MSF reiterates our call to drastically scale-up the provision of assistance in the many places where it remains possible. Warring parties must grant unhindered access for aid delivery, and their allies and influential states must use their leverage to ease the obstacles that are causing deaths and starvation.

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MIL OSI NGO –
February 24, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: The GitVenom campaign: cryptocurrency theft using GitHub

Source: Securelist – Kaspersky

Headline: The GitVenom campaign: cryptocurrency theft using GitHub

In our modern world, it’s difficult to underestimate the impact that open-source code has on software development. Over the years, the global community has managed to publish a tremendous number of projects with freely accessible code that can be viewed and enhanced by anyone on the planet. Very frequently, code published on the Internet serves as a source of inspiration for software developers – whenever they need to implement a project feature, they often check whether the code they need is already available online. This way, they avoid reinventing the wheel and thus save their precious time.

With more and more open-source projects being published, both state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals started using freely available code as a lure to infect their targets. Of course, this trend shows no sign of slowing down as evidenced by a currently active campaign aimed at GitHub users that we dubbed GitVenom.

Promise-filled yet fake projects

Over the course of the GitVenom campaign, the threat actors behind it have created hundreds of repositories on GitHub that contain fake projects with malicious code – for example, an automation instrument for interacting with Instagram accounts, a Telegram bot allowing to manage Bitcoin wallets, and a hacking tool for the video game Valorant.

Clearly, in designing these fake projects, the actors went to great lengths to make the repositories appear legitimate to potential targets. For instance, the malicious repositories we discovered contained well-designed README.md files, possibly generated using AI tools. We observed these files to contain information about the projects, as well as instructions on how to compile their code.

Snippets of README.md pages with descriptions of fake projects

In addition to that, the attackers added multiple tags to their repositories, as well as artificially inflated the number of commits made to them. To do that, they placed a timestamp file in these repositories, which was updated every few minutes:

Example structure of a malicious repository

Malicious code implanted in many ways

While analyzing repositories created over the course of the GitVenom campaign, we noted that the fake projects we found were written in multiple programming languages – specifically Python, JavaScript, C, C++ and C#. As may be expected, these projects did not implement the features discussed in the README.md file, and their code mostly performed meaningless actions. At the same time, each of the projects was infected with malicious code, with its placement depending on the programming language used.

For instance, the attackers placed malicious code in Python-based projects by inserting a long line in one of the project files. This line consisted of about 2,000 tab characters, followed by the following code, responsible for decrypting and executing a Python script:

subprocess.run([‘pip’, ‘install’, ‘cryptography’], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL); subprocess.run([‘pip’, ‘install’, ‘fernet’], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL); from fernet import Fernet; import requests; exec(Fernet(b’<encrypted malicious python script>‘))</encrypted>

1	subprocess.run([‘pip’, ‘install’, ‘cryptography’], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL); subprocess.run([‘pip’, ‘install’, ‘fernet’], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL); from fernet import Fernet; import requests; exec(Fernet(b‘‘))

In the case of projects coded in JavaScript, the attackers created a malicious function inside them, which was in turn invoked from the main file of the project. Below is an example of such a function:

Example of a malicious function placed in JavaScript-based projects. It decodes a script from Base64 and executes it.

As for repositories containing C, C++ and C# code, the attackers decided to hide a malicious batch script inside Visual Studio project files, configuring it to execute at project build time:

Snippet from a malicious Visual Studio project file. It contains a PreBuildEvent attribute, which instructs the payload to execute at project build time.

Further payloads deployed

While coded in different programming languages, the malicious payloads stored inside the fake projects had the same goal – download further malicious components from an attacker-controlled GitHub repository (URL at the time of research: hxxps://github[.]com/Dipo17/battle) and execute them. These components were as follows:

A Node.js stealer that collects information such as saved credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data and browsing history, packs it into a .7z archive and uploads it to the attackers via Telegram.

Structure of the archive which the stealer sends to the attackers

The open-source AsyncRAT implant (C2 server address: 68.81[.]155);
The open-source Quasar backdoor (C2 server address: same as above)
A clipboard hijacker, which searches the clipboard contents for cryptocurrency wallet addresses and replaces them with attacker-controlled ones. Notably, the attacker-controlled Bitcoin wallet ( ID: bc1qtxlz2m6r[...]yspzt) received a lump sum of about 5 BTC (approximately 485,000 USD at the time of research) in November 2024.

Impact of the campaign

While investigating malicious repositories related to the GitVenom campaign, we found several fake projects published two years ago. Given that the attackers have been luring victims with these projects for several years, the infection vector is likely quite efficient. In fact, based on our telemetry, infection attempts related to GitVenom have been observed worldwide, with the highest number of them being in Russia, Brazil and Turkey. We expect these attempts to continue in the future, possibly with small changes in the TTPs.

Blindly running code from GitHub can be detrimental

As code-sharing platforms such as GitHub are used by millions of developers worldwide, threat actors will certainly continue using fake software as an infection lure. For that reason, it is crucial to handle processing of third-party code very carefully. Before attempting to run such code or integrate it into an existing project, it is paramount to thoroughly check what actions it performs. This way, it will be very easy to spot fake projects and prevent malicious code placed in them from being used to compromise the development environment.

Reference hashes for infected repository archives

63739e000601afde38570bfb9c8ba589 (06d0d13a4ce73775cf94a4a4f2314490de1d5b9af12db8ba9b01cd14222a2756)

3684907e595cd04bf30b27d21580a7c6 (bd44a831ecf463756e106668ac877c6b66a2c0b954d13d6f311800e75e9c6678)

MIL OSI Economics –

February 24, 2025

MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s ‘working for water’ programme is meant to lead to skills and jobs: why it’s failing

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Sinazo Ntsonge, PhD Graduate, Department of Economics and Economic History, Rhodes University, Rhodes University

South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme is part of its social safety net. It complements the country’s social grants system, which has over 28 million recipients.

The public works programme helps fill a gap for people who fall outside the grant system, especially those who need work experience and skills training if they’re to get a job. These include unemployed young people, women and people with disabilities.

One of the programmes under its umbrella is the Working for Water programme, which was launched in 1995. It was intended to control invasive alien plants so as to conserve water resources, and provide short-term employment and training for people not covered by the grants safety net.

Since its inception, the programme, alongside other interventions targeted at the environment, has created over 200,000 person years of employment – the total number of days people were afforded work. More than half of these employment opportunities have been held by women, and more than 60% by young people under the age of 35 years.

In my PhD research, I examined one of its flagship projects to assess its impact on the long-term livelihoods of beneficiaries. My aim was to determine whether the programme was achieving its intended role as a social protection mechanism.

I found that the way the project was designed limited its potential to foster long-term livelihoods for participants. Long-term livelihoods are defined as the ability to achieve lasting economic stability and growth beyond the scope of the project itself.

One key issue was the inconsistency in the number of workdays participants were assigned, as well as the quality and availability of the skills training they received. Specifically, the training lacked regularity and did not always align with market demands. It left participants without the practical, job-ready skills needed for sustained employment.

This problem was compounded by budget cuts.

Based on my findings, I propose key changes to improve the programme’s effectiveness: the provision of consistent funding and training that’s aligned to labour market needs.

The project

The project I looked at tackles the clearing of invasive Prosopis mesquite trees in the Northern Cape. This has involved clearing nearly 314,580 hectares of invaded land in that province.

Spanning from 2004 to 2018, the project supported over 9,000 beneficiaries across three phases. In phase I (2004–2008), 2,411 people participated; in phase II (2009–2013), 2,861; and in phase III (2014–2018), 3,756.

The project targeted youth, women and people with disabilities. Beneficiaries were spread across various age groups: 36–64 years in phase I, 22–35 and 36–64 years in phase II, and 18–35 years in phase III.

Participants were paid monthly stipends which ranged from R2,900 to R5,000, which is equivalent to approximately US$157 to US$271 – higher than most South African social grants. For comparison, the disability social grant is R2,180 (US$118), the older person’s grant is R2,200 (US$119), the foster child grant is R1,180 (US$64), and the child support grant is R530 (US$28).

I developed an evaluation framework to assess the programme’s impact on the long-term livelihoods of beneficiaries.

The study was carried out over 14 days in 2020, coinciding with the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With health restrictions in place, the research had to pivot from planned in-person interviews and focus groups to virtual interviews with key stakeholders and an online survey of beneficiaries. The survey gathered data from 33 beneficiaries, while interviews provided valuable insights from project managers overseeing the clearing initiative.

The gaps

I found that the project faced a number of challenges.

Firstly, there was inconsistency in the number of workdays participants were assigned. Given that public works projects aim to alleviate poverty – primarily through stipends – budget cuts forced managers to focus on retaining beneficiaries to ensure they could at least feed themselves. This often meant reducing the number of workdays (from the required 230 days to just 100 days) and scaling back skills training.

Secondly, there were shortcomings in the quality and availability of the skills training they received. Many of the courses offered were short-term or specific to invasive plant clearing, including herbicide application, brush cutter operation and firefighting. This meant it wasn’t relevant to the labour market.

In the Northern Cape, the economy hinges on industries like mining, agriculture, manufacturing and construction. In mining, for example, knowledge of machinery operation, safety protocols and mine supervision is vital. Agriculture needs workers skilled in sustainable farming, irrigation techniques and equipment operation. Manufacturing needs expertise in production line management, welding and machinery operation. Construction projects require workers proficient in project management, site safety and heavy machinery operation.

Given the region’s tourism potential, customer service and tour guiding are valuable. Finally, fostering entrepreneurship through business management and financial literacy can empower individuals to create small businesses. In addition, soft skills such as communication, leadership and teamwork are essential across all sectors for long-term employability.

Many beneficiaries reported cycling through the Prosopis mesquite clearing project repeatedly, without gaining the work experience or skills needed to move into more sustainable jobs in the wider labour market.

Thirdly, budget cuts restricted the availability of resources for both training and work opportunities.

As a result, the initiative fell short of providing participants with the tools necessary for long-term economic success. Their prospects were limited after the project’s conclusion.

Given the findings of my research study, the programme requires a shift in focus and changes need to be made.

What needs to be done

Firstly, funding for projects needs to be consistent. Secondly, training needs to be aligned with labour market needs. And thirdly, there needs to be a structured system for tracking long-term outcomes on the beneficiaries’ livelihoods following their participation.

Without a system to track outcomes, it’s difficult to assess whether the project is equipping participants with skills for employment in the sectors that are driving the local economy.

With these changes the programme can transition from a short-term employment solution to a sustainable intervention that equips beneficiaries with useful, transferable skills that are applicable to a range of sectors. This would ultimately improve their prospects for stable employment and long-term economic security, provided those jobs are available.

Sinazo Ntsonge received funding from the NRM WfW programme, which was administered by the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology (CIB) at Stellenbosch University.

– ref. South Africa’s ‘working for water’ programme is meant to lead to skills and jobs: why it’s failing – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-working-for-water-programme-is-meant-to-lead-to-skills-and-jobs-why-its-failing-248694

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s Remarks to the Human Rights Council [as delivered]

Source: United Nations – English

Scroll down for all-English and all-French versions]

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.

More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.

Entire communities reduced to rubble.

Hospitals and schools destroyed.

We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.

Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.

A toll on people.

A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.

And a toll on the vital business of this Council.

Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.

And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.

Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.

You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.

And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.

Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.

I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,

We have our work cut out for us.

Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.

But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.

By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.

By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.

By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.

By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.

And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.

By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.

By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.

In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.

This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.

But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.

The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.

First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.

Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.

And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.

It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.

In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.

The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.

And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.

It’s time to silence the guns.

It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.

The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.

The Congolese people deserve peace.

In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.

In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.

We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.

And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.

In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.

A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.

The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.

It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.

And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.

Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.

The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.

They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.

With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.

This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.

The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.

And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.

The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.

It shields the most vulnerable.

It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.

It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.

It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.

It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.

And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.

Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.

L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.

La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.

Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.

Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.

Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.

Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.

Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.

Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.

Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…

Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.

Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.

À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.

Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.

Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.

Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.

La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.

Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.

Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.

Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.

Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.

Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.

Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.

Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.

Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.

Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à l’Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;

Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.

Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.

Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.

Excellences,

Mesdames et Messieurs,

Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.

Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.

Et je vous remercie.

[all-English version]

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.

More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.

Entire communities reduced to rubble.

Hospitals and schools destroyed.

We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.

Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.

A toll on people.

A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.

And a toll on the vital business of this Council.

Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.

And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.

Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.

You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.

And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.

Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.

I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,

We have our work cut out for us.

Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.

But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.

By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.

By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.

By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.

By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.

And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.

By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.

By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.

In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.

This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.

But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.

The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.

First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.

Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.

And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.

It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.

In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.

The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.

And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.

It’s time to silence the guns.

It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.

The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.

The Congolese people deserve peace.

In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.

In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.

We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.

And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.

In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.

A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.

The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.

It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.

And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.

Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.

The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.

They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.

With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.

This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.

The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.

And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.

The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.

It shields the most vulnerable.

It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.

It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.

It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.

It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.

And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.

Fourth — human rights through climate action.

Last year was the hottest on record — capping the hottest decade on record.

Rising heat, melting glaciers and hotter oceans are a recipe for disaster.

Floods, droughts, deadly storms, hunger, mass displacement — our war on nature is also a war on human rights.

We must choose a different path.

I salute the many Member States who legally recognize the right to a healthy environment — and I call on all countries to do the same.

Governments must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans this year, well ahead of COP30 in Brazil.

Those plans must limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees — including by accelerating the global energy transition.

We also need a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and accelerate the renewables revolution, which represents a massive economic opportunity.

We must stand up to the misleading campaign of many in the fossil fuel industry and its enablers who are aiding and abetting this madness, while also protecting and defending those on the front lines of climate justice.

And fifth — human rights through stronger, better governance of technology.

As fast-moving technologies expand into every aspect of our lives, I am deeply concerned about human rights being undermined.

At its best, social media is a meeting ground for people to exchange ideas and spark respectful debate.

But it can also be an arena of fiery combat and blatant ignorance.

A place where the poisons of misinformation, disinformation, racism, misogyny and hate speech are not only tolerated — but often encouraged.

Verbal violence online can easily spill into physical violence in real life.

Recent rollbacks on social media fact-checking and content moderation are re-opening the floodgates to more hate, more threats, and more violence.

Make no mistake.

These rollbacks will lead to less free speech, not more, as people become increasingly fearful to engage on these platforms.

Meanwhile, the great promise of Artificial Intelligence is matched by limitless peril to undermine human autonomy, human identity, human control — and yes, human rights.

In the face of these threats, the Global Digital Compact brings the world together to ensure that human rights are not sacrificed on the altar of technology.

This includes working with digital companies and policymakers to extend human rights to every corner of cyberspace — including a new focus on information integrity across digital platforms.

The Global Principles for Information Integrity I launched last year will support and inform this work as we push for a more humane information ecosystem.

The Global Digital Compact also includes the first universal agreement on the governance of AI that brings every country to the table and commitments on capacity-building, so all countries and people benefit from AI’s potential.

By investing in affordable internet, digital literacy, and infrastructure.

By helping developing countries use AI to grow small businesses, improve public services, and connect communities to new markets.

And by placing human rights at the centre of AI-driven systems.

The Pact’s decisions to create an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and an ongoing Global Dialogue that ensure all countries have a voice in shaping its future are important steps forward. We must implement them.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We can help end the suffocation of human rights by breathing life into the Pact for the Future and the work of this Council.

Let’s do that together. We don’t have a moment to lose.

And I thank you.

[all-French translation]

L’ouverture de la présente session coïncide avec un sinistre jalon : le troisième anniversaire de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, en violation de la Charte des Nations Unies.

Plus de 12 600 civils ont été tués et bien plus encore ont été blessés.

Des communautés entières ont été anéanties.

Des hôpitaux et des écoles ne sont plus que décombres.

Nous ne devons ménager aucun effort pour mettre un terme à ce conflit et parvenir à une paix juste et durable, conformément à la Charte des Nations Unies, au droit international et aux résolutions de l’Assemblée générale.

Les conflits comme la guerre en Ukraine prélèvent un lourd tribut.

Ils déciment les populations.

Ils érodent les principes fondamentaux que sont l’intégrité territoriale, la souveraineté et l’état de droit.

Ils sapent les activités vitales de ce Conseil.

Sans le respect des droits humains – qu’ils soient civils, culturels, économiques, politiques ou sociaux – la paix durable n’est qu’une chimère.

Et comme ce Conseil, les droits humains sont une source de lumière dans l’obscurité la plus profonde.

Grâce à vos travaux et à ceux que le Haut-Commissariat mène dans le monde entier, vous soutenez les défenseurs et défenseuses des droits humains qui, avec courage, risquent la persécution, la détention et même la mort.

Vous travaillez avec les gouvernements, la société civile et d’autres acteurs pour renforcer l’action en faveur des droits humains.

Et vous apportez votre soutien aux mécanismes d’enquête et d’établissement des responsabilités.

Il y a cinq ans, nous avons lancé notre appel à l’action en faveur des droits humains, l’objectif étant d’intégrer les droits humains dans toutes les activités des Nations Unies menées à travers le monde, en étroite collaboration avec nos partenaires.

Je continuerai d’apporter mon appui à ces travaux importants, ainsi qu’au Haut-Commissariat, dans notre lutte pour les droits humains partout dans le monde.

Excellences,

Nous avons du pain sur la planche.

Les droits humains sont l’oxygène de l’humanité.

Mais ils sont asphyxiés, les uns après les autres.

Par les autocrates, qui écrasent l’opposition parce qu’ils craignent ce dont serait capable un peuple ayant pleinement les moyens d’agir.

Par le patriarcat, qui empêche les filles d’aller à l’école et les femmes de jouir de leurs droits fondamentaux.

Par les guerres et la violence, qui privent les populations de leur droit à l’alimentation, à l’eau, et à l’éducation.

Par les bellicistes, qui se rient du droit international, du droit international humanitaire et de la Charte des Nations Unies.

Les droits humains sont asphyxiés par la crise climatique.

Par un système financier mondial en faillite morale, qui fait trop souvent obstacle à une plus grande égalité et au développement durable.

Par des technologies incontrôlables comme l’intelligence artificielle, qui suscitent de grands espoirs mais recèlent aussi la capacité de violer les droits humains en un seul clic.

Par une intolérance croissante à l’égard de groupes entiers, qu’il s’agisse des peuples autochtones, des migrants et réfugiés, de la communauté LGBTQI+, ou encore des personnes handicapées.

Et par les discours de ceux qui, prêchant la division et la colère, considèrent les droits humains non pas comme un bienfait pour l’humanité, mais comme un obstacle au pouvoir, au profit et au contrôle qu’ils convoitent.

En bref, les droits humains, sous le coup d’attaques vicieuses, sont dans leurs derniers retranchements.

Cette situation représente une menace directe pour tous les mécanismes et systèmes établis de haute lutte au cours des 80 dernières années pour protéger et faire progresser les droits humains.

Or, comme le rappelle le Pacte pour l’avenir adopté récemment, les droits humains sont, en fait, une source de solutions.

Le Pacte définit les mesures que nous pouvons prendre pour gagner le combat pour les droits humains sur plusieurs fronts.

Premièrement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à la paix et instaurer la paix grâce aux droits humains.

Les conflits infligent des violations massives des droits humains.

Dans le Territoire palestinien occupé, les violations des droits humains ont connu une hausse vertigineuse depuis les horribles attaques perpétrées par le Hamas le 7 octobre, et les niveaux intolérables de mort et de destruction à Gaza.

Je suis gravement préoccupé par la montée des violences et des autres violations commises en Cisjordanie occupée par les colons israéliens, ainsi que par les appels à l’annexion. Nous assistons à un cessez-le-feu précaire. Nous devons éviter à tout prix une reprise des hostilités. La population de Gaza a déjà trop souffert.

Il est temps d’instaurer un cessez-le-feu permanent, de libérer tous les otages restants, de réaliser des progrès irréversibles vers la solution des deux États, la fin l’occupation, et la création d’un État palestinien indépendant, dont Gaza ferait partie intégrante.

Au Soudan, les bains de sang, les déplacements de population et la famine ravagent le pays.

Les parties en conflit doivent prendre immédiatement des mesures pour protéger les civils, défendre les droits humains, cesser les hostilités et instaurer la paix.

Les mécanismes nationaux et internationaux de surveillance et d’enquête en matière de droits humains devraient être autorisés à documenter ce qui se déroule sur le terrain.

En République démocratique du Congo, nous sommes témoins d’un tourbillon mortel de violences et d’atroces violations des droits humains, amplifié par la récente offensive du M23, soutenue par les forces de défense rwandaises.

Plus les villes tombent, plus le risque d’une guerre régionale augmente.

Il est temps de faire taire les armes.

L’heure est à la diplomatie et au dialogue.

Le récent sommet conjoint qui s’est tenu en Tanzanie a ouvert la voie en renouvelant l’appel à un cessez-le-feu immédiat.

La souveraineté et l’intégrité territoriale de la RDC doivent être respectées.

Le peuple congolais mérite la paix.

Au Sahel, j’appelle à la reprise du dialogue régional afin de protéger les citoyens du terrorisme et des violations systémiques des droits humains et de créer les conditions du développement durable.

Au Myanmar, la situation s’est considérablement aggravée au cours des quatre années qui se sont écoulées depuis que les militaires ont pris le pouvoir et détenu arbitrairement des membres du gouvernement démocratiquement élu.

Il nous faut resserrer la coopération pour mettre fin aux hostilités et ouvrir la voie à une transition démocratique inclusive et au retour à un régime civil, permettant le retour en toute sécurité des réfugiés rohingyas.

En Haïti, nous constatons des violations massives des droits humains : plus d’un million de personnes ont été déplacées et les enfants sont en proie à une augmentation effroyable des violences sexuelles et de l’enrôlement dans les gangs.

Dans les jours à venir, je présenterai au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies des propositions pour renforcer la stabilité et la sécurité du peuple haïtien, notamment par le biais d’un mécanisme d’assistance efficace des Nations unies destiné à soutenir la Mission multilatérale de soutien à la sécurité, à la police nationale et aux autorités haïtiennes.

Une solution durable nécessite un processus politique – mené et pris en charge par le peuple haïtien – qui rétablisse les institutions démocratiques à travers des élections.

Le Pacte pour l’avenir demande la mise en place de processus et de démarches pour la paix ancrés dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations Unies.

Le Pacte pour l’avenir appelle à des processus et des approches de paix fondés sur la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations unies.

Il propose des mesures précises visant à privilégier la prévention des conflits, la médiation, le règlement des conflits et la consolidation de la paix.

Il énonce également l’engagement pris de s’attaquer aux causes profondes des conflits, qui sont bien souvent liées au déni des besoins et des droits humains fondamentaux.

Deuxièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir fait progresser les droits humains grâce au développement.

Les objectifs de développement durable et les droits humains sont intrinsèquement liés.

Ils représentent des besoins humains réels : la santé, l’alimentation, l’eau, l’éducation, le travail décent et la protection sociale.

Alors que moins d’un cinquième des objectifs sont en passe d’être réalisés, le Pacte appelle à une accélération massive des progrès grâce au plan de relance des objectifs de développement durable, à la réforme de
l’architecture financière mondiale et à la prise de mesures réfléchies pour les pays qui croulent sous la dette.

Il s’agit donc, notamment, de mener une action ciblée pour vaincre la violation des droits humains la plus répandue dans l’histoire : l’inégalité pour les femmes et les filles.

Le Pacte appelle à investir pour lutter contre toutes les formes de discrimination et de violence à l’égard des femmes et des filles et pour permettre à celles-ci de participer véritablement à tous les domaines de la vie et d’y jouer un rôle moteur.

Avec la Déclaration sur les générations futures, le Pacte appelle à défendre les droits et l’avenir des jeunes en promouvant le travail décent, en éliminant les obstacles à la participation des jeunes et en améliorant la formation.

Le Pacte numérique mondial appelle tous les pays à soutenir les jeunes innovateurs, à cultiver l’esprit entrepreneurial et à doter la prochaine génération des connaissances et compétences numériques nécessaires.

Troisièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir établit que l’état de droit et les droits humains vont de pair.

L’état de droit, lorsqu’il est fondé sur les droits humains, est un pilier essentiel de la protection.

Il protège les plus vulnérables.

C’est la première ligne de défense contre la criminalité et la corruption.

Il favorise des économies et des sociétés équitables, justes et inclusives.

Il oblige les auteurs d’atrocités commises en violation des droits humains à rendre compte de leurs actes.

Il offre aux individus un espace civique où faire entendre leur voix et permet aux journalistes d’accomplir leur travail essentiel, à l’abri des ingérences et des menaces.

Et il réaffirme l’engagement du monde en faveur de l’égalité d’accès à la justice, de la bonne gouvernance et d’institutions transparentes et responsables.

Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.

L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.

La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.

Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.

Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.

Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.

Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.

Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.

Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.

Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…

Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.

Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.

À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.

Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.

Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.

Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.

La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.

Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.

Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.

Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.

Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.

Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.

Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.

Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.

Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.

Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;

Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.

Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.

Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.

Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,

Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.

Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.

Et je vous remercie.

MIL OSI Africa –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General’s Remarks to the Human Rights Council [as delivered]

Source: United Nations secretary general

[Scroll down for all-English and all-French versions]

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.

More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.

Entire communities reduced to rubble.

Hospitals and schools destroyed.

We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.

Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.

A toll on people.

A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.

And a toll on the vital business of this Council.

Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.

And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.

Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.

You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.

And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.

Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.

I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,

We have our work cut out for us.

Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.

But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.

By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.

By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.

By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.

By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.

And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.

By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.

By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.

In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.

This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.

But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.

The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.

First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.

Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.

And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.

It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.

In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.

The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.

And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.

It’s time to silence the guns.

It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.

The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.

The Congolese people deserve peace.

In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.

In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.

We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.

And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.

In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.

A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.

The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.

It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.

And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.

Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.

The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.

They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.

With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.

This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.

The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.

And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.

The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.

It shields the most vulnerable.

It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.

It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.

It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.

It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.

And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.

Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.

L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.

La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.

Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.

Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.

Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.

Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.

Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.

Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.

Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…

Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.

Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.

À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.

Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.

Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.

Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.

La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.

Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.

Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.

Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.

Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.

Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.

Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.

Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.

Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.

Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à l’Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;

Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.

Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.

Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.

Excellences,

Mesdames et Messieurs,

Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.

Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.

Et je vous remercie.

[all-English version]

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.

More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.

Entire communities reduced to rubble.

Hospitals and schools destroyed.

We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.

Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.

A toll on people.

A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.

And a toll on the vital business of this Council.

Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.

And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.

Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.

You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.

And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.

Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.

I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,

We have our work cut out for us.

Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.

But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.

By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.

By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.

By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.

By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.

And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.

By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.

By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.

In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.

This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.

But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.

The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.

First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.

Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.

And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.

It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.

In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.

The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.

And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.

It’s time to silence the guns.

It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.

The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.

The Congolese people deserve peace.

In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.

In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.

We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.

And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.

In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.

A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.

The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.

It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.

And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.

Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.

The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.

They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.

With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.

This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.

The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.

And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.

The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.

It shields the most vulnerable.

It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.

It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.

It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.

It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.

And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.

Fourth — human rights through climate action.

Last year was the hottest on record — capping the hottest decade on record.

Rising heat, melting glaciers and hotter oceans are a recipe for disaster.

Floods, droughts, deadly storms, hunger, mass displacement — our war on nature is also a war on human rights.

We must choose a different path.

I salute the many Member States who legally recognize the right to a healthy environment — and I call on all countries to do the same.

Governments must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans this year, well ahead of COP30 in Brazil.

Those plans must limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees — including by accelerating the global energy transition.

We also need a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and accelerate the renewables revolution, which represents a massive economic opportunity.

We must stand up to the misleading campaign of many in the fossil fuel industry and its enablers who are aiding and abetting this madness, while also protecting and defending those on the front lines of climate justice.

And fifth — human rights through stronger, better governance of technology.

As fast-moving technologies expand into every aspect of our lives, I am deeply concerned about human rights being undermined.

At its best, social media is a meeting ground for people to exchange ideas and spark respectful debate.

But it can also be an arena of fiery combat and blatant ignorance.

A place where the poisons of misinformation, disinformation, racism, misogyny and hate speech are not only tolerated — but often encouraged.

Verbal violence online can easily spill into physical violence in real life.

Recent rollbacks on social media fact-checking and content moderation are re-opening the floodgates to more hate, more threats, and more violence.

Make no mistake.

These rollbacks will lead to less free speech, not more, as people become increasingly fearful to engage on these platforms.

Meanwhile, the great promise of Artificial Intelligence is matched by limitless peril to undermine human autonomy, human identity, human control — and yes, human rights.

In the face of these threats, the Global Digital Compact brings the world together to ensure that human rights are not sacrificed on the altar of technology.

This includes working with digital companies and policymakers to extend human rights to every corner of cyberspace — including a new focus on information integrity across digital platforms.

The Global Principles for Information Integrity I launched last year will support and inform this work as we push for a more humane information ecosystem.

The Global Digital Compact also includes the first universal agreement on the governance of AI that brings every country to the table and commitments on capacity-building, so all countries and people benefit from AI’s potential.

By investing in affordable internet, digital literacy, and infrastructure.

By helping developing countries use AI to grow small businesses, improve public services, and connect communities to new markets.

And by placing human rights at the centre of AI-driven systems.

The Pact’s decisions to create an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and an ongoing Global Dialogue that ensure all countries have a voice in shaping its future are important steps forward. We must implement them.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We can help end the suffocation of human rights by breathing life into the Pact for the Future and the work of this Council.

Let’s do that together. We don’t have a moment to lose.

And I thank you.

[all-French translation]

L’ouverture de la présente session coïncide avec un sinistre jalon : le troisième anniversaire de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, en violation de la Charte des Nations Unies.

Plus de 12 600 civils ont été tués et bien plus encore ont été blessés.

Des communautés entières ont été anéanties.

Des hôpitaux et des écoles ne sont plus que décombres.

Nous ne devons ménager aucun effort pour mettre un terme à ce conflit et parvenir à une paix juste et durable, conformément à la Charte des Nations Unies, au droit international et aux résolutions de l’Assemblée générale.

Les conflits comme la guerre en Ukraine prélèvent un lourd tribut.

Ils déciment les populations.

Ils érodent les principes fondamentaux que sont l’intégrité territoriale, la souveraineté et l’état de droit.

Ils sapent les activités vitales de ce Conseil.

Sans le respect des droits humains – qu’ils soient civils, culturels, économiques, politiques ou sociaux – la paix durable n’est qu’une chimère.

Et comme ce Conseil, les droits humains sont une source de lumière dans l’obscurité la plus profonde.

Grâce à vos travaux et à ceux que le Haut-Commissariat mène dans le monde entier, vous soutenez les défenseurs et défenseuses des droits humains qui, avec courage, risquent la persécution, la détention et même la mort.

Vous travaillez avec les gouvernements, la société civile et d’autres acteurs pour renforcer l’action en faveur des droits humains.

Et vous apportez votre soutien aux mécanismes d’enquête et d’établissement des responsabilités.

Il y a cinq ans, nous avons lancé notre appel à l’action en faveur des droits humains, l’objectif étant d’intégrer les droits humains dans toutes les activités des Nations Unies menées à travers le monde, en étroite collaboration avec nos partenaires.

Je continuerai d’apporter mon appui à ces travaux importants, ainsi qu’au Haut-Commissariat, dans notre lutte pour les droits humains partout dans le monde.

Excellences,

Nous avons du pain sur la planche.

Les droits humains sont l’oxygène de l’humanité.

Mais ils sont asphyxiés, les uns après les autres.

Par les autocrates, qui écrasent l’opposition parce qu’ils craignent ce dont serait capable un peuple ayant pleinement les moyens d’agir.

Par le patriarcat, qui empêche les filles d’aller à l’école et les femmes de jouir de leurs droits fondamentaux.

Par les guerres et la violence, qui privent les populations de leur droit à l’alimentation, à l’eau, et à l’éducation.

Par les bellicistes, qui se rient du droit international, du droit international humanitaire et de la Charte des Nations Unies.

Les droits humains sont asphyxiés par la crise climatique.

Par un système financier mondial en faillite morale, qui fait trop souvent obstacle à une plus grande égalité et au développement durable.

Par des technologies incontrôlables comme l’intelligence artificielle, qui suscitent de grands espoirs mais recèlent aussi la capacité de violer les droits humains en un seul clic.

Par une intolérance croissante à l’égard de groupes entiers, qu’il s’agisse des peuples autochtones, des migrants et réfugiés, de la communauté LGBTQI+, ou encore des personnes handicapées.

Et par les discours de ceux qui, prêchant la division et la colère, considèrent les droits humains non pas comme un bienfait pour l’humanité, mais comme un obstacle au pouvoir, au profit et au contrôle qu’ils convoitent.

En bref, les droits humains, sous le coup d’attaques vicieuses, sont dans leurs derniers retranchements.

Cette situation représente une menace directe pour tous les mécanismes et systèmes établis de haute lutte au cours des 80 dernières années pour protéger et faire progresser les droits humains.

Or, comme le rappelle le Pacte pour l’avenir adopté récemment, les droits humains sont, en fait, une source de solutions.

Le Pacte définit les mesures que nous pouvons prendre pour gagner le combat pour les droits humains sur plusieurs fronts.

Premièrement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à la paix et instaurer la paix grâce aux droits humains.

Les conflits infligent des violations massives des droits humains.

Dans le Territoire palestinien occupé, les violations des droits humains ont connu une hausse vertigineuse depuis les horribles attaques perpétrées par le Hamas le 7 octobre, et les niveaux intolérables de mort et de destruction à Gaza.

Je suis gravement préoccupé par la montée des violences et des autres violations commises en Cisjordanie occupée par les colons israéliens, ainsi que par les appels à l’annexion. Nous assistons à un cessez-le-feu précaire. Nous devons éviter à tout prix une reprise des hostilités. La population de Gaza a déjà trop souffert.

Il est temps d’instaurer un cessez-le-feu permanent, de libérer tous les otages restants, de réaliser des progrès irréversibles vers la solution des deux États, la fin l’occupation, et la création d’un État palestinien indépendant, dont Gaza ferait partie intégrante.

Au Soudan, les bains de sang, les déplacements de population et la famine ravagent le pays.

Les parties en conflit doivent prendre immédiatement des mesures pour protéger les civils, défendre les droits humains, cesser les hostilités et instaurer la paix.

Les mécanismes nationaux et internationaux de surveillance et d’enquête en matière de droits humains devraient être autorisés à documenter ce qui se déroule sur le terrain.

En République démocratique du Congo, nous sommes témoins d’un tourbillon mortel de violences et d’atroces violations des droits humains, amplifié par la récente offensive du M23, soutenue par les forces de défense rwandaises.

Plus les villes tombent, plus le risque d’une guerre régionale augmente.

Il est temps de faire taire les armes.

L’heure est à la diplomatie et au dialogue.

Le récent sommet conjoint qui s’est tenu en Tanzanie a ouvert la voie en renouvelant l’appel à un cessez-le-feu immédiat.

La souveraineté et l’intégrité territoriale de la RDC doivent être respectées.

Le peuple congolais mérite la paix.

Au Sahel, j’appelle à la reprise du dialogue régional afin de protéger les citoyens du terrorisme et des violations systémiques des droits humains et de créer les conditions du développement durable.

Au Myanmar, la situation s’est considérablement aggravée au cours des quatre années qui se sont écoulées depuis que les militaires ont pris le pouvoir et détenu arbitrairement des membres du gouvernement démocratiquement élu.

Il nous faut resserrer la coopération pour mettre fin aux hostilités et ouvrir la voie à une transition démocratique inclusive et au retour à un régime civil, permettant le retour en toute sécurité des réfugiés rohingyas.

En Haïti, nous constatons des violations massives des droits humains : plus d’un million de personnes ont été déplacées et les enfants sont en proie à une augmentation effroyable des violences sexuelles et de l’enrôlement dans les gangs.

Dans les jours à venir, je présenterai au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies des propositions pour renforcer la stabilité et la sécurité du peuple haïtien, notamment par le biais d’un mécanisme d’assistance efficace des Nations unies destiné à soutenir la Mission multilatérale de soutien à la sécurité, à la police nationale et aux autorités haïtiennes.

Une solution durable nécessite un processus politique – mené et pris en charge par le peuple haïtien – qui rétablisse les institutions démocratiques à travers des élections.

Le Pacte pour l’avenir demande la mise en place de processus et de démarches pour la paix ancrés dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations Unies.

Le Pacte pour l’avenir appelle à des processus et des approches de paix fondés sur la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations unies.

Il propose des mesures précises visant à privilégier la prévention des conflits, la médiation, le règlement des conflits et la consolidation de la paix.

Il énonce également l’engagement pris de s’attaquer aux causes profondes des conflits, qui sont bien souvent liées au déni des besoins et des droits humains fondamentaux.

Deuxièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir fait progresser les droits humains grâce au développement.

Les objectifs de développement durable et les droits humains sont intrinsèquement liés.

Ils représentent des besoins humains réels : la santé, l’alimentation, l’eau, l’éducation, le travail décent et la protection sociale.

Alors que moins d’un cinquième des objectifs sont en passe d’être réalisés, le Pacte appelle à une accélération massive des progrès grâce au plan de relance des objectifs de développement durable, à la réforme de
l’architecture financière mondiale et à la prise de mesures réfléchies pour les pays qui croulent sous la dette.

Il s’agit donc, notamment, de mener une action ciblée pour vaincre la violation des droits humains la plus répandue dans l’histoire : l’inégalité pour les femmes et les filles.

Le Pacte appelle à investir pour lutter contre toutes les formes de discrimination et de violence à l’égard des femmes et des filles et pour permettre à celles-ci de participer véritablement à tous les domaines de la vie et d’y jouer un rôle moteur.

Avec la Déclaration sur les générations futures, le Pacte appelle à défendre les droits et l’avenir des jeunes en promouvant le travail décent, en éliminant les obstacles à la participation des jeunes et en améliorant la formation.

Le Pacte numérique mondial appelle tous les pays à soutenir les jeunes innovateurs, à cultiver l’esprit entrepreneurial et à doter la prochaine génération des connaissances et compétences numériques nécessaires.

Troisièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir établit que l’état de droit et les droits humains vont de pair.

L’état de droit, lorsqu’il est fondé sur les droits humains, est un pilier essentiel de la protection.

Il protège les plus vulnérables.

C’est la première ligne de défense contre la criminalité et la corruption.

Il favorise des économies et des sociétés équitables, justes et inclusives.

Il oblige les auteurs d’atrocités commises en violation des droits humains à rendre compte de leurs actes.

Il offre aux individus un espace civique où faire entendre leur voix et permet aux journalistes d’accomplir leur travail essentiel, à l’abri des ingérences et des menaces.

Et il réaffirme l’engagement du monde en faveur de l’égalité d’accès à la justice, de la bonne gouvernance et d’institutions transparentes et responsables.

Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.

L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.

La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.

Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.

Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.

Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.

Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.

Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.

Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.

Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…

Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.

Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.

À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.

Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.

Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.

Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.

La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.

Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.

Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.

Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.

Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.

Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.

Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.

Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.

Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.

Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;

Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.

Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.

Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.

Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,

Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.

Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.

Et je vous remercie.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: South Africa’s ‘working for water’ programme is meant to lead to skills and jobs: why it’s failing

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Sinazo Ntsonge, PhD Graduate, Department of Economics and Economic History, Rhodes University, Rhodes University

South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme is part of its social safety net. It complements the country’s social grants system, which has over 28 million recipients.

The public works programme helps fill a gap for people who fall outside the grant system, especially those who need work experience and skills training if they’re to get a job. These include unemployed young people, women and people with disabilities.

One of the programmes under its umbrella is the Working for Water programme, which was launched in 1995. It was intended to control invasive alien plants so as to conserve water resources, and provide short-term employment and training for people not covered by the grants safety net.

Since its inception, the programme, alongside other interventions targeted at the environment, has created over 200,000 person years of employment – the total number of days people were afforded work. More than half of these employment opportunities have been held by women, and more than 60% by young people under the age of 35 years.

In my PhD research, I examined one of its flagship projects to assess its impact on the long-term livelihoods of beneficiaries. My aim was to determine whether the programme was achieving its intended role as a social protection mechanism.

I found that the way the project was designed limited its potential to foster long-term livelihoods for participants. Long-term livelihoods are defined as the ability to achieve lasting economic stability and growth beyond the scope of the project itself.

One key issue was the inconsistency in the number of workdays participants were assigned, as well as the quality and availability of the skills training they received. Specifically, the training lacked regularity and did not always align with market demands. It left participants without the practical, job-ready skills needed for sustained employment.

This problem was compounded by budget cuts.

Based on my findings, I propose key changes to improve the programme’s effectiveness: the provision of consistent funding and training that’s aligned to labour market needs.

The project

The project I looked at tackles the clearing of invasive Prosopis mesquite trees in the Northern Cape. This has involved clearing nearly 314,580 hectares of invaded land in that province.

Spanning from 2004 to 2018, the project supported over 9,000 beneficiaries across three phases. In phase I (2004–2008), 2,411 people participated; in phase II (2009–2013), 2,861; and in phase III (2014–2018), 3,756.

The project targeted youth, women and people with disabilities. Beneficiaries were spread across various age groups: 36–64 years in phase I, 22–35 and 36–64 years in phase II, and 18–35 years in phase III.

Participants were paid monthly stipends which ranged from R2,900 to R5,000, which is equivalent to approximately US$157 to US$271 – higher than most South African social grants. For comparison, the disability social grant is R2,180 (US$118), the older person’s grant is R2,200 (US$119), the foster child grant is R1,180 (US$64), and the child support grant is R530 (US$28).

I developed an evaluation framework to assess the programme’s impact on the long-term livelihoods of beneficiaries.

The study was carried out over 14 days in 2020, coinciding with the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With health restrictions in place, the research had to pivot from planned in-person interviews and focus groups to virtual interviews with key stakeholders and an online survey of beneficiaries. The survey gathered data from 33 beneficiaries, while interviews provided valuable insights from project managers overseeing the clearing initiative.

The gaps

I found that the project faced a number of challenges.

Firstly, there was inconsistency in the number of workdays participants were assigned. Given that public works projects aim to alleviate poverty – primarily through stipends – budget cuts forced managers to focus on retaining beneficiaries to ensure they could at least feed themselves. This often meant reducing the number of workdays (from the required 230 days to just 100 days) and scaling back skills training.

Secondly, there were shortcomings in the quality and availability of the skills training they received. Many of the courses offered were short-term or specific to invasive plant clearing, including herbicide application, brush cutter operation and firefighting. This meant it wasn’t relevant to the labour market.

In the Northern Cape, the economy hinges on industries like mining, agriculture, manufacturing and construction. In mining, for example, knowledge of machinery operation, safety protocols and mine supervision is vital. Agriculture needs workers skilled in sustainable farming, irrigation techniques and equipment operation. Manufacturing needs expertise in production line management, welding and machinery operation. Construction projects require workers proficient in project management, site safety and heavy machinery operation.

Given the region’s tourism potential, customer service and tour guiding are valuable. Finally, fostering entrepreneurship through business management and financial literacy can empower individuals to create small businesses. In addition, soft skills such as communication, leadership and teamwork are essential across all sectors for long-term employability.

Many beneficiaries reported cycling through the Prosopis mesquite clearing project repeatedly, without gaining the work experience or skills needed to move into more sustainable jobs in the wider labour market.

Thirdly, budget cuts restricted the availability of resources for both training and work opportunities.

As a result, the initiative fell short of providing participants with the tools necessary for long-term economic success. Their prospects were limited after the project’s conclusion.

Given the findings of my research study, the programme requires a shift in focus and changes need to be made.

What needs to be done

Firstly, funding for projects needs to be consistent. Secondly, training needs to be aligned with labour market needs. And thirdly, there needs to be a structured system for tracking long-term outcomes on the beneficiaries’ livelihoods following their participation.

Without a system to track outcomes, it’s difficult to assess whether the project is equipping participants with skills for employment in the sectors that are driving the local economy.

With these changes the programme can transition from a short-term employment solution to a sustainable intervention that equips beneficiaries with useful, transferable skills that are applicable to a range of sectors. This would ultimately improve their prospects for stable employment and long-term economic security, provided those jobs are available.

– South Africa’s ‘working for water’ programme is meant to lead to skills and jobs: why it’s failing
– https://theconversation.com/south-africas-working-for-water-programme-is-meant-to-lead-to-skills-and-jobs-why-its-failing-248694

MIL OSI Africa –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN/ANGELUS – The Pope hospitalized at the Gemelli Hospital asks for prayers and carries the pain of the world in his heart

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Sunday, 23 February 2025

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Pope Francis is hospitalized at the Gemelli hospital in Rome with the diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia. The medical bulletin released yesterday evening, Saturday 22 February, spoke of a “reserved prognosis” and reported the respiratory crisis the Pontiff had experienced early in the morning. Prayers have been raised to heaven from all over the world for the health of the Successor of Peter. And he, in the words of his ordinary magisterium that he continues to spread from his hospital bed, invites us to pray and implore divine mercy for all the multitudes tormented by wars and violence in all parts of the world.In the text prepared for the Angelus and released at midday by the Holy See Press Office at the request of the Pontiff himself, the Bishop of Rome, referring to the conflict in Ukraine, defines tomorrow’s date – which marks exactly three years since the beginning of that war – as “a painful and shameful occasion for the whole of humanity!”. And while he renews his “closeness to the martyred Ukrainian people”, the Pope invites us to “pray and remember the victims of all armed conflicts, and to pray for the gift of peace in Palestine, Israel and throughout the Middle East, Myanmar, Kivu and Sudan”.The Pontiff, in the released text, also refers to his health conditions: “I am confidently continuing my hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment; and rest is also part of the therapy! I sincerely thank the doctors and health workers of this hospital for the attention they are showing me and the dedication with which they carry out their service among the sick”. Pope Francis also thanks those who have written to him in recent days: “I I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children. Thank you for this closeness, and for the prayers of comfort I have received from all over the world! I entrust you all to the intercession of Mary, and I ask you to pray for me”.In the text of the Angelus, Pope Francis also addressed the permanent deacons who have gathered in Rome in recent days to celebrate the Jubilee together, by crossing the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica. “You,” wrote Pope Francis in the text prepared for the Angelus, “dedicate yourselves to the Word and to the service of charity; you carry out your ministry in the Church with words and deeds, bringing God’s love and mercy to everyone. I urge you to continue your apostolate with joy and – as today’s Gospel suggests – to be a sign of a love that embraces everyone, that transforms evil into goodness and engenders a fraternal world. Do not be afraid to risk love!”.This morning, the deacons who had come to Rome from all over the world for their Jubilee pilgrimage took part in the Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World). During the liturgical celebration, 23 new permanent deacons from different countries were ordained, and Archbishop Fisichella also read the text of the homily prepared for the occasion by Pope Francis. A homily in which the Bishop of Rome, inspired by the readings of the liturgy of the day, wove his reflections starting from the experience of “gratuity”, “a term certainly appreciated by you deacons, gathered here for the celebration of the Jubilee” according to the words of the Pontiff. The Bishop of Rome invited the deacons to pause “on this fundamental dimension of Christian life and of your ministry”, showing how only gratuity represents the source of forgiveness, selfless service and communion that characterize every authentic diaconal vocation. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 23/2/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: MINISTER KGOSIENTSHO RAMOKGOPA PROVIDES A STATUS UPDATE ON ELECTRICITY GENERATION PERFORMANCE

Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TO: ALL MEDIA/NEWS EDITORS

DATE: SUNDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2025

MINISTER KGOSIENTSHO RAMOKGOPA TO PROVIDE A STATUS UPDATE ON
ELECTRICITY GENERATION PERFORMANCE

Members of the media are hereby invited to a media briefing where the Minister of Electricity
and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Eskom will provide an update on the status of
South Africa’s electricity generation performance.

DETAILS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

DATE: Sunday , 23 February 2025

TIME: 11:00 (Setting up from 10:00)

VENUE: GCIS, Tshedimosetso House, corner Francis Baard and Festival streets, Hatfield

For media enquiries:
Tsakane Khambane, Spokesperson in the Ministry of Electricity and Energy on 082 084 5566 /
Tsakane.Khambane@dmre.gov.zaDaphe Mokwena, Eskom Spokesperson on 082 441 6501 / daphne.mokwena@eskom.co.za

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fblWKnCs_U

MIL OSI Video –

February 24, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Erotica, gore and racism: how America’s war on ‘ideological bias’ is letting AI off the leash

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judith Bishop, Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellow, La Trobe University

3d_kot/Shutterstock

Badly behaved artificial intelligence (AI) systems have a long history in science fiction. Way back in 1961, in the famous Astro Boy comics by Osamu Tezuka, a clone of a popular robot magician was reprogrammed into a super-powered thief. In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the shipboard computer HAL 9000 turns out to be more sinister than the astronauts on board think.

More recently, real-world chatbots such as Microsoft’s Tay have shown that AI models “going bad” isn’t sci-fi any longer. Tay started spewing racist and sexually explicit texts within hours of its public release in 2016.

The generative AI models we’ve been using since ChatGPT launched in November 2022 are generally well behaved. There are signs this may be about to change.

On February 20, the US Federal Trade Commission announced an inquiry to understand “how consumers have been harmed […] by technology platforms that limit users’ ability to share their ideas or affiliations freely and openly”. Introducing the inquiry, the commission said platforms with internal processes to suppress unsafe content “may have violated the law”.

The latest version of the Elon Musk–owned Grok model already serves up “based” opinions, and features an “unhinged mode” that is “intended to be objectionable, inappropriate, and offensive”. Recent ChatGPT updates allow the bot to produce “erotica and gore”.

These developments come after moves by US President Donald Trump to deregulate AI systems. Trump’s attempt to remove “ideological bias” from AI may see the return of rogue behaviour that AI developers have been working hard to suppress.

Executive orders

In January, Trump issued a sweeping executive order against “illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI)”, and another on “removing barriers to AI innovation” (which includes “engineered social agendas”).

In February, the US refused to join 62 other nations in signing a “Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable AI” at the Paris AI Action Summit.

What will this mean for the AI products we see around us? Some generative AI companies, including Microsoft and Google, are US federal government suppliers. These companies could come under significant direct pressure to eliminate measures to make AI systems safe, if the measures are perceived as supporting DEI or slowing innovation.

AI developers’ interpretation of the executive orders could result in AI safety teams being reduced in size or scope, or replaced by teams whose social agenda better aligns with Trump’s.

Why would that matter? Before generative AI algorithms are trained, they are neither helpful nor harmful. However, when they are fed a diet of human expression scraped from across the internet, their propensity to reflect biases and behaviours such as racism, sexism, ableism and abusive language becomes clear.

AI risks and how they’re managed

Major AI developers spend a lot of effort on suppressing biased outputs and unwanted model behaviours and rewarding more ethically neutral and balanced responses.

Some of these measures could be seen as implementing DEI principles, even as they help to avoid incidents like the one involving Tay. They include the use of human feedback to tune model outputs, as well as monitoring and measuring bias towards specific populations.

Another approach, developed by Anthropic for its Claude model, uses a policy document called a “constitution” to explicitly direct the model to respect principles of harmless and respectful behaviour.

Model outputs are often tested via “red teaming”. In this process, prompt engineers and internal AI safety experts do their best to provoke unsafe and offensive responses from generative AI models.

A Microsoft blog post from January described red teaming as “the first step in identifying potential harms […] to measure, manage, and govern AI risks for our customers”.

The risks span a “wide range of vulnerabilities”, “including traditional security, responsible AI, and psychosocial harms”.

The blog also notes “it is crucial to design red teaming probes that not only account for linguistic differences but also redefine harms in different political and cultural contexts”. Many generative AI products have a global user base. So this sort of effort is important for making the products safe for consumers and businesses well beyond US borders.

We may be about to relearn some lessons

Unfortunately, none of these efforts to make generative AI models safe is a one-shot process. Once generative AI models are installed in chatbots or other apps, they continually digest information from the human world through prompts and other inputs.

This diet can shift their behaviour for the worse over time. Malicious attacks, such as user prompt injection and data poisoning, can produce more dramatic changes.

Tech journalist Kevin Roose used prompt injection to make Microsoft Bing’s AI chatbot reveal its “shadow self”. The upshot? It encouraged him to leave his wife. Research published last month showed that a mere drop of poisoned data could make medical advice models generate misinformation.

Constant monitoring and correction of AI outputs are essential. There is no other way to avoid offensive, discriminatory or unsafe behaviours cropping up without warning in generated responses.

Yet all signs suggest the Trump administration favours a reduction in the ethical regulation of AI. The executive orders may be interpreted as allowing or encouraging the free expression and generation of even discriminatory and harmful views on subjects such as women, race, LGBTQIA+ individuals and immigrants.

Generative AI moderation efforts may go the way of Meta’s fact-checking and expert content moderation programs. This could have an impact on global users of US-made AI products such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot and Google Gemini.

We might be about to rediscover how essential these efforts have been to keep AI models in check.

Judith Bishop has received funding from Creative Australia for a book on AI and human data. Until 2022 she led teams producing training data for global AI companies and US government research agencies.

– ref. Erotica, gore and racism: how America’s war on ‘ideological bias’ is letting AI off the leash – https://theconversation.com/erotica-gore-and-racism-how-americas-war-on-ideological-bias-is-letting-ai-off-the-leash-250060

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Visit to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in South Africa

Source: Australian Treasurer

This week, I will be representing the Treasurer in Cape Town at the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under South Africa’s 2025 G20 Presidency.

At the G20, Australia engages with the world’s largest economies and adds our voice to the global conversation.

Against a backdrop of global uncertainty, there is a greater impetus for international macroeconomic cooperation through the G20.

This meeting will be an opportunity to discuss with fellow Finance Ministers the global economic outlook, sustainable development, combating inequality, and strengthening our international institutions.

The Albanese Government is working productively with international colleagues to tackle shared challenges.

MIL OSI News –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Chinese FM calls for fair global governance, stronger multilateralism

Source: China State Council Information Office

China calls for establishing a fair and equitable global governance system and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while briefing Chinese media on his visits to Britain and Ireland, attending the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany, chairing the UN Security Council’s high-level meeting in New York, and participating in the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in South Africa.

China will take the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations as an opportunity to work with all parties to draw wisdom from history, usher in a new era of multilateralism, build a fair and equitable global governance system, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Wang said.

As the current international landscape undergoes transformation and turbulence, with growing deficits in peace, development and governance, global governance has reached a historical crossroads, he said.

The international community has high expectations for how to strengthen the role of the UN and jointly address global challenges and regional hotspots, he added.

He said that as the rotating president of the UN Security Council for February, China chaired the Security Council’s high-level meeting on “Practicing Multilateralism, Reforming and Improving Global Governance” to reaffirm the original aspiration of the United Nations, build consensus on multilateralism and inject new momentum into strengthening global governance.

During the discussion, all parties agreed that the role of the UN is indispensable, the trend toward multilateralism is irreversible, and reforming and improving global governance cannot be delayed, Wang said.

Regarding this year’s MSC focus on multipolarity, Wang said that despite the complex challenges facing the world, peace, development and win-win cooperation remain unstoppable trends of the times.

The historical shift toward multipolarity and economic globalization is irreversible, he added.

A multipolar world is not only a historical inevitability but is also becoming a reality, Wang said, stressing that China will be a factor of certainty in this multipolar system and strive to be a steadfast constructive force in a changing world.

Noting that the G20 Summit will be held on the African continent for the first time this November, he said it is an “African moment” for both the G20 and global governance, demonstrating historic changes in the international political and economic landscape and carrying great significance.

Wang also said that during the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg, China proposed listening to Africa’s voice, taking its concerns seriously, supporting its actions, and empowering Africa’s development through G20 cooperation to achieve common prosperity and progress, a proposal widely recognized by participants.

China will play an active and constructive role in G20 cooperation, firmly support South Africa’s presidency, and encourage all parties to focus on the theme of “Unity, Equality and Sustainability” to meet the common expectations of the Global South, Wang added.

MIL OSI China News –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: How ancestral insights can strengthen early warnings

Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

Four practical actions to integrate indigenous and local knowledges into early warning system monitoring and forecasting

For generations, many Indigenous peoples and local communities have developed localized methods to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to disasters. Drawing on deep traditional knowledge and experience of their surroundings, they use ecological, hydro-meteorological, and celestial indicators to monitor and forecast environmental changes. These traditional approaches have become central components of some effective early warning systems (EWS), especially when integrated with scientific methods. This powerful combination of traditional and scientific knowledge is already proving successful across the globe.

In Vanuatu, the world’s most disaster-prone nation, communities are turning to their ancestral wisdom to build resilience. Facing cyclones, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes every year, Vanuatu’s people have relied for centuries on natural signs to predict danger. Traditional knowledge holders observe changes in wind patterns, cloud formations, and animal behavior. This traditional knowledge is now being integrated with modern science through tools like the ClimateWatch App. Local Civil Society Organizations across Vanuatu use the app alongside Provincial Traditional Knowledge calendars to collect valuable environmental data. Through this initiative, communities can systematically document and monitor traditional indicators including animal behavior, plant changes, and celestial signs to enhance early warning capabilities.

In Indonesia’s Simeulue Island, “smong” is a traditional warning system for tsunamis, shared in local songs and stories. The word specifically describes the sequence of tsunami warning signs: first an earthquake, then the sea receding, followed by a giant wave. This knowledge originated after a devastating tsunami in 1907 and was preserved through oral traditions. The power of this traditional knowledge was proven during the 2004 tsunami – when a 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck and the sea receded, all 70,000 Simeulue residents recognized these ancestral warning signs of smong and immediately fled to higher ground. While devastating waves claimed many lives across the Indian Ocean, the people of Simeulue survived thanks to their preserved traditional warning system.

These traditional methods deliver concrete results – saving lives, protecting crops, and building climate resilience. Furthermore, by recognizing and incorporating trusted sources of wisdom, an integrated system can gain the confidence and acceptance of the local community it serves. Yet despite their vital importance for community-based solutions, these important sources of knowledge are often overlooked in early warning systems on a global scale.

To address this gap, UNDRR’s Handbook on the use of risk knowledge for multi-hazard early warning systems 2024 offers the four practical actions below to successfully integrate local and indigenous knowledge into monitoring and forecasting activities.

1. Inform

Introduce scientific monitoring and forecasting methods to the local population.

Communities must understand how their local knowledge can validate, support and strengthen forecasting models. This knowledge sharing should emphasize the mutual benefits of combining modern and local knowledge to predict hazards.

2. Consult

Hold key informant interviews with local knowledge holders, community leaders, and local disaster management council members to better understand existing local knowledge systems for hazard monitoring and forecasting.

Community consultations through focus group discussions can reveal key insights on precursors to specific hazards. For example, in Southern Africa, drought forecast data has been collected from local knowledge on trees and plants through structured questionnaires at household level. Convenings such as Regional Climate Outlook Fora enable regional experts and local/national practitioners to discuss scientific forecasts.

3. Involve

Use crowdsourcing platforms to harness community involvement in monitoring hazards and reporting environmental variables.

In Tanzania, community disaster management committees or local volunteers in the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery project utilize WhatsApp and Telegram to share real-time flood information and coordinate responses. Malawi uses the Weather Chasers WhatsApp group to gather local knowledge on weather disasters by encouraging community members to share real-time weather observations, which helps verify forecasts and improve EWS. Participatory modeling, such as in Dar-es-Salaam’s urban flood management, engages communities directly. Local knowledge holders contribute to defining impact thresholds, ensuring EWS alignment with local contexts.

Local communities should be engaged through an interactive modelling process. In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, local populations are directly engaged in participatory mapping efforts, resulting in more accurate flood models and a more resilient society. Local knowledge holders should also contribute to defining impact thresholds, ensuring EWS alignment with local context.

4. Cooperate

Integrate exposed communities into the process of identifying hazard indicators, drawing on their environmental and scientific knowledge.

Integrated systems depend on cooperation between communities using local forecasting systems and scientific communities. By proposing multiple evidence-based forecasting approaches, systems can foster community ownership and trust.

Building resilient futures by integrating local and Indigenous Knowledges

To draw on all relevant knowledge systems to protect communities, policymakers must recognize local and Indigenous Knowledges as critical resources for disaster resilience. This means providing dedicated funding for community-led early warning initiatives and fostering partnerships between scientific institutions and local knowledge holders.

With climate change set to bring even more unprecedented challenges, this combination of traditional wisdom and modern science will be increasingly vital for effective disaster risk reduction. Success stories worldwide demonstrate that when local knowledge is respected and incorporated, early warning systems become more sustainable, trusted, and impactful, creating stronger, more resilient communities for generations to come.

Read the full handbook here

MIL OSI United Nations News –

February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Talks relaunch on India trade deal to boost UK’s growth agenda
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Talks relaunch on India trade deal to boost UK’s growth agenda

UK-India free trade talks are being relaunched, with a visit to India by the Business and Trade Secretary.
UK-India trade talks kick off in New Delhi today with Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds meeting with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal

Deal aims to deliver economic growth and bring Indian economy – world’s third largest by 2028 – within reach for more UK businesses

Push to attract investment will take place in financial capital Mumbai and tech hub Bengaluru by Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson

The relaunch of talks on a UK-India trade deal will take place today [Monday 24 February], as UK ministers arrive in India to negotiate a huge economic prize helping to deliver on the growth agenda.

India is forecast to have the highest growth rate in the G20 for the next five years and set to become the world’s third biggest economy by 2028. With an expected 95 million strong middle class by 2035, there are more and more opportunities every day for UK businesses to sell to consumers in India ready to buy British.

Securing trade deals with massive global economies like India demonstrates the UK’s commitment to free and fair trade and how this Government will support jobs, prosperity, and real change for the British people as part of the Plan for Change.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:

Securing a trade deal with what is soon-to-be the third biggest economy in the world is a no-brainer, and a top priority for me and this Government. That is why I’m flying to New Delhi with our top negotiating team to show our commitment to getting these talks back on track.

Only a pragmatic government can deliver the economic growth and stability that the British public and British businesses deserve, delivering on the Plan for Change.

Growth will be the guiding principle in our trade negotiations with India and I’m excited about the opportunities on offer in this vibrant market.

Trade ministers from both countries will kickstart negotiations on a modern economic deal with two-days of focused discussions – the first time both negotiating teams have formally got around the table under this government.

Standard Chartered UK CEO and Head, Client Coverage UK, Saif Malik said:

We warmly welcome efforts to strengthen trade ties with one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing markets. As a leading global bank operating in India for over 160 years, the opportunities for British businesses are significant.

Whether it’s improved access to India’s growing consumer market, opportunities in manufacturing, infrastructure and innovation, or collaboration in financial and professional services, the relaunch of trade talks can unlock even greater trade, investment and prosperity across the UK-India corridor.”

Chair of UK India Business Council Richard Heald said:

The UK Government’s visit reaffirms its commitment for a new ambitious and future-focused trade & investment relationship with India.

We are delighted to note the progress on the UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Success in the FTA will support further economic growth for the world’s 5th and 6th largest economies. It will catalyse collaboration beyond into other areas too. Importantly, it will signal the UK and India are strategic partners. This is truly an exciting chapter of the UK-India partnership.

The talks will open against a backdrop of Indian commerce and artisans on a joint visit to Delhi’s National Crafts Museum. The pair will also spend time visiting BT India’s office in Gurugram – one of the largest UK employers in India – to see first-hand how UK tech and Indian talent are helping solve global challenges.

As part of the visit, Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson will address investors in two of the country’s foremost business centres Mumbai and Bengaluru, to sell the UK as the best and most connected place for Indian businesses to invest.

India has been the second biggest source of FDI into the UK for five consecutive years in terms of number of projects. In terms of value, the most recent stats show a 28% year-on-year increase in investment stock at the end of 2023.

The UK offer for Indian investors has never been stronger, she will tell businesses, thanks to the government’s drive to restore economic stability and boost investor confidence as part of the Plan for Change.

The UK and India are currently the sixth and fifth largest global economies respectively, with a trade relationship worth £41 billion and investment supporting over 600,000 jobs across both countries.

A trade deal could unlock new opportunities for businesses and consumers in all regions and nations of the UK, support jobs, boost wages, and back the high-growth sectors identified in the government’s upcoming Industrial Strategy, such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, financial services, and professional and business services.

Notes to editors

GDP figures are sourced from the IMF World Economic Outlook October 2024

FDI project numbers are sourced from DBT inward investment results 2023/24

FDI stock values are sourced from ONS foreign direct investment involving UK companies 2023

Trade values sourced from ONS UK total trade all countries July to September 2024

Jobs supported by investment across both countries are sourced from Grant Thornton

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Published 23 February 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
February 24, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Union Health Ministry takes immediate action in response to concerns on export of unapproved drug combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol
Source: Government of India

Union Health Ministry takes immediate action in response to concerns on export of unapproved drug combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol

Joint team of CDSCO and Maharashtra State Regulatory Authority conducts thorough audit of the drug manufacturing site

Stop Activity Order and Stop Production Order issued for the concerned drug combinations

CDSCO moves for immediate withdrawal of Export NOCs and Manufacturing Licenses for Tapentadol-Carisoprodol combinations

Posted On: 23 FEB 2025 8:23PM by PIB Delhi

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken immediate and decisive action following some news reports highlighting concerns regarding the export of unapproved combination drugs containing Tapentadol and Carisoprodol by Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturer M/s Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai to certain countries in West Africa.

To ensure regulatory compliance across the pharmaceutical sector, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), in collaboration with state regulators, initiated risk-based inspections of drug manufacturing and testing firms in December 2022. As of now, 905 units have been inspected, resulting in 694 actions being taken. These actions include Stop Production Orders (SPO), Stop Testing Orders (STO), license suspensions/cancellations, warning letters, and showcase notices, depending on the severity of non-compliance. This initiative has provided valuable insights into the ground reality of manufacturing practices and has led to relevant corrective actions, resulting in noticeable improvements in the regulatory framework.

During end Jan’25, CDSCO in collaboration with State Regulators had done focused audit of firms manufacturing and exporting NDPS drugs. Based on analysis of observations from the audit, important decisions were taken to strengthen regulatory oversight on export of NDPS drugs from India.

Regarding the specific issue at hand, both Tapentadol and Carisoprodol are individually approved by CDSCO in India. Tapentadol is approved in 50, 75, and 100 mg tablet forms, as well as 100, 150, and 200 mg extended-release tablets. However, the combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol is not approved in India. Neither of these drugs is included in the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) list in India.

Actions taken by the Union Health Ministry:
1. Audit and Inspection: A joint team from the CDSCO and the State Regulatory Authority conducted a comprehensive audit of M/s. Aveo Pharmaceuticals between 21st and 22nd February 2025. The findings from the audit led to the issuance of a Stop Activity Order, halting all operations at the company’s premises.
2. Seizure of Materials: Following the audit, the investigation team seized all raw materials, in-process materials, and finished products. Approximately 1.3 crore tablets/capsules and 26 batches of APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol were detained to prevent further distribution of these potentially dangerous drugs.
3. Stop Production Order: The Maharashtra FDA issued a Stop Production Order to M/s. Aveo Pharmaceuticals on 22nd February 2025, effectively halting the manufacturing of the concerned drug combinations.
4. Withdrawal of Export NOCs: Communications have been sent to all State Drugs Control Authorities and Zonal Offices to immediately withdraw Export NOCs and Manufacturing Licenses granted for any combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol. The same communication has also been sent to all Customs offices at notified ports to route all consignments of referred products through CDSCO Port offices.
5. Seizure of Export Consignment: An export consignment of Tapentadol 125 mg + Carisoprodol 100 mg, destined for Ghana, has been put on hold at Mumbai Air Cargo pending further investigation.
6. Updating Export NOC Checklist: Going forward, CDSCO is updating the Export NOC checklist, to ensure that either the Product Registration Certificate from the importing country’s National Regulatory Agency (NRA) or approval from the Indian Regulatory Authority (CDSCO) is required for all medicines being exported from India.
This updation of the checklist will address the root cause of the problem and settle the issue once for all. The Union Government will ensure smooth export operation for legitimate medicines to be used to support healthcare globally and strongly control these aberrations through swift and strong action as demonstrated through recent decisions and actions.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, along with the CDSCO, remains committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of citizens in India and abroad. The steps taken in response to this issue reflect the Government’s zero-tolerance policy towards illegal or unethical export of unapproved and potentially harmful drugs.

India as a leading global supplier of pharmaceuticals, is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of drug safety and regulatory compliance. The Union Health Ministry assures the public and global community that the Government will continue to monitor and regulate pharmaceutical exports to safeguard against any misuse of Indian-made medicines.

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MV

HFW/Actions taken amid West Africa Opiod Crisis/23Feb2025/1

(Release ID: 2105672) Visitor Counter : 82

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –
February 24, 2025

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Building resilient futures by integrating local and Indigenous Knowledges

Talks relaunch on India trade deal to boost UK’s growth agenda

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Updates to this page

Union Health Ministry takes immediate action in response to concerns on export of unapproved drug combination of Tapentadol and CarisoprodolJoint team of CDSCO and Maharashtra State Regulatory Authority conducts thorough audit of the drug manufacturing site

Union Health Ministry takes immediate action in response to concerns on export of unapproved drug combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol

Joint team of CDSCO and Maharashtra State Regulatory Authority conducts thorough audit of the drug manufacturing site