The government announced a substantial increase in the price of fuel that will further squeeze a population already struggling with soaring costs of living. It announced on Wednesday that the price of gas will more than double, with slightly smaller increases for diesel and kerosene. The government has justified the price increase by saying that it is no longer tenable to subsidise fuel as much as it used to.

Haiti had previously received its petroleum from Venezuela’s Petrocaribe programme, which shut down several years ago. Since then, it has helped subsidise local distributors who import fuel.

Protesters blocked roads throughout the capital Port-Au-Prince, closing off usually busy areas of the city to traffic. Schools and businesses closed as streets were blocked with rocks, vehicles, and burning tyres. Many people in Haiti depend on fuel not only for transportation, but also for electricity and cooking.

“It’s a very challenging time for Haiti right now,” Haitian journalist Harold Isaac explained. “We’re facing a compounding set of crises, the latest one being the gas crisis that really has made life very difficult for everyday folks here.” 

Haiti sees more protests as fuel price hike worsens public anger | Inflation News | Al Jazeera

Background Reading

Material World – A forlorn and forgotten nation – worldsocialism.org/spgb

According to the United in Science report, the world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe.

The United in Science report was coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, and involves the UN Environment Programme, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Climate Research Programme, the Global Carbon Project, the UK’s Met Office and the Urban Climate Change Research Network.

Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the report. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts. The world was also failing to adapt to the consequences of the climate crisis, the report found.

Recent flooding in Pakistan, which had covered a third of the country in water, is the latest example of extreme weather that is devastating swathes of the globe. The heatwave across Europe including the UK this summer, prolonged drought in China, a megadrought in the US and near-famine conditions in parts of Africa also reflect increasingly prevalent extremes of weather.

The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, said: “There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction…”

Since Cop26, the invasion of Ukraine and soaring gas prices have prompted some governments to return to fossil fuels, including coal. 

Guterres warned of the danger: “Each year we double down on this fossil fuel addiction, even as the symptoms get rapidly worse.”

Guterres condemned rich countries that had promised the developing world assistance but failed to deliver. “It is a scandal that developed countries have failed to take adaptation seriously, and shrugged off their commitments to help the developing world,” he said.

Tasneem Essop, the executive director of the Climate Action Network, said, “The terrifying picture painted by the United in Science report is already a lived reality for millions of people facing recurring climate disasters. The science is clear, yet the addiction to fossil fuels by greedy corporations and rich countries is resulting in losses and damages for communities who have done the least to cause the current climate crisis.”

The United in Science report found:

1.

The past seven years were the hottest on record and there is a 48% chance during at least one year in the next five that the annual mean temperature will temporarily be 1.5C higher than the 1850-1900 average.

More than 140 million people face acute food insecurity due to conflict and instability, even as climate change and economic precarity indicate that hunger needs will rise in the coming months.

Armed conflict, climate-related emergencies, economic hardship and political obstacles are leading to a growing wave of hunger in countries around the world. The misery for millions will deepen without immediate urgent action, the Red Cross said.

An emergency response alone will not end these hunger crises. Concerted action and long-term approaches are the only way to break the cycle. Political will and resources are needed now. Without them, many lives will be lost, and the suffering will endure for years. 

Measures must include strengthening grassroots food systems.

“Conflict is a huge driver of hunger. We see violence preventing farmers from planting and harvesting. We see sanctions and blockades preventing food delivery to the most vulnerable… A cycle of band-aid solutions will not be enough in coming years.” Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC, said

In Sub-Saharan Africa: One in three children under the age of five is stunted by chronic undernutrition, while two out of five women of childbearing age are anaemic because of poor diets. The majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.90 a day.

In Afghanistan: The combination of three decades of armed conflict and an economic crash resulting in few job opportunities and a massive banking crisis are having a devastating effect on Afghan families’ ability to buy food. More than half the country — 24 million — need assistance. 

In Pakistan: The recent flooding has led to an estimated $12 billion in losses. Food security in the country was alarming before this latest catastrophe, with 43 percent of the population food insecure. Now the number of acutely hungry people is expected to rise substantially. Some 78,000 square kilometers (21 million acres) of crops are under water. An estimated 65 percent of the country’s food basket — crops like rice and wheat– have been destroyed, with over 733,000 livestock reportedly killed. The floods will also negatively affect food delivery into neighboring Afghanistan.

In Somalia: We have seen a five-fold increase in the number of malnourished children needing care. Last month the Bay Regional Hospital in Baidoa admitted 466 children, up from 82 in August 2021. Children admitted here die without the specialized nutritional care they receive.

In Syria: Food insecurity rates have risen more than 50 percent since 2019. Today, two-thirds of Syria’s population –12.4 million out of 18 million — can’t meet their daily food needs. The compounding effects of more than a decade of conflict, including the consequences of sanctions, have crippled people’s buying power. Food prices have risen five-fold in the last two years.

In Yemen: Most Yemenis survive on one meal a day. Last year 53 percent of Yemen’s population were food insecure. This year it’s 63 percent — or some 19 million people. Aid actors have been forced to cut food assistance due to a lack of funds. Some 5 million people will now receive less than 50 percent of their daily nutritional requirement because of it.

Crisis fatigue not an option as global hunger crisis deepens, the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement warns – World | ReliefWeb

 Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned that if the international community waits to take action until a famine is officially declared, “we know that it will already be too late. Tens of thousands of people will already have died by the time we declare a famine,” Maurer added, “The alarm bells are ringing loudly.” 

The number of people in dire need of emergency humanitarian assistance in Somalia has increased from 4.1 million at the beginning of 2022 to 7.1 million and is expected to continue to grow.

Francesco Rocca, president of the  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), highlighted that 22 million people living in the Horn of Africa are already in the clutches of a growing food crisis. “The situation expected to deteriorate into 2023,” Rocca stressed, adding that what is being done was “minimal compared to the huge needs” of the region. Rocca said that “world leaders should listen to act immediately” in order not only to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis but also to establish “longterm solutions in the Horn of Africa.”

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that in Somalia alone, more than $1 billion (€1 billion) is needed to prevent the worst from happening.

The Horn of Africa is currently witnessing its fifth consecutive failed rainy season. The war in Ukraine and its ensuing grain delivery shortages have further compounded the situation, as well as political upheaval across the region. More than 200,000 are at risk of dying — potentially by the end of the year. About half of the country’s population is likely to experience hunger and want in some shape during the same timescale unless aid is stepped up. The number of children facing the effects of severe acute malnutrition in Somalia meanwhile has increased to over half a million. 

James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said that this level of child famine had not been seen in any country yet this century, with more than 700 children already having lost their lives this year due to malnutrition. “We’ve got more than half a million children facing preventable death. It’s a pending nightmare,” Elder stated, echoing Maurer’s sentiments who said that children potentially dying of hunger “is the result of systemic failure.”

Meanwhile, outbreaks of infectious diseases have also increased in Somalia, with around 8,400 suspected cases of cholera and nearly 13,000 suspected cases of measles.

Somalia’s population is for the most part pastoral and nomadic, making it difficult to deliver aid where it is needed most. 

Abubakar Dahir Osman, the UN’s permanent representative in Somalia, however, emphasized that humanitarian aid alone cannot provide a lasting solution to the famine in Somalia. He said that the relationship between humanitarian aid and development needed to be strengthened to find sustainable solutions for those who are suffering.

Somalia′s ′pending nightmare:′ Millions at risk of famine | Africa | DW | 14.09.2022

 Must the Show Go On?

When, finally, a monarch’s life is spent,

Then a precisely scripted spectacle

Is enacted, highly political,

It becomes a theatrical event.

Cue republicans who are expected

To heckle from the fringes, even though

There would be a very similar show

For a head of state who’d been elected.

The crown becoming dislodged by fate

Poses the point, what need for any head

Of state is there, either living or dead?

Indeed, why have a nation or a state?

 Only when capitalism’s interred

Can a leaderless future be inferred.

D. A.

Children make up about one-third of all refugees and migrants arriving in Europe. A significant percentage of these children fleeing conflicts and insecurities in the countries of South, Central and Western Asia, come through Balkans route, which is part of the Eastern Mediterranean route towards Western and Northern Europe.

 The countries on the Balkans route, including Greece, Bulgaria, and Croatia, which are members of the EU, are mainly seen as transit countries by refugees and migrants, as they try to continue their way towards the more developed countries of Western Europe.

An in-depth analysis by Save the Children reveals:

·Likely all children who migrate using the Balkans route to cross Europe are subjected to violence which threatens their physical or emotional survival

·According to children’s testimonies, police at the borders are the most common perpetrators, as well as smugglers they rely on to cross borders

·Children report smugglers sometimes kill or leave children and adults in conditions they would not be able to survive on their own, and the dead bodies then remain to be seen by other children travelling on the same route

·The deterrence and containment policies prioritised by the European Union and countries along the Balkans route are the cause of the violence

·Inadequate and often inhumane reception conditions in prison-like camps exacerbate the suffering of children, and the lack of adequate mental health support increases the risk of harm.

The report reveals a critical lack of protection for child migrants across Europe, with children reporting violence is now an integral and an almost inevitable part of their migration experience. About one in three of the children now believe that no one can help them on their journey, and some believe they are no longer able to help themselves.

The report reveals child migrants are at enormous risk of sexual violence, with boys travelling alone particularly vulnerable, and that children are being exploited at work during the journey and at their destination, including being recruited by smugglers for criminal and sex work. Almost two-thirds of children interviewed listed one or more incidents where they recognised or witnessed sexual abuse of a child.

 Those who were travelling unaccompanied, gave examples of self-harm, suicide attempts, and abuse of alcohol and other drugs as passive strategies for coping with stress and difficulty. Some children sought protection by becoming involved in criminal and sexual activities with smugglers and other adults.

Bogdan Krasic, Balkans Migration and Displacement Hub Programme Director, said:

“These findings are striking because they show the violence in these children’s lives is so present it has become normalized. Children are exposed to all types of violence, at all times – in their countries of origin, along the journey, in the countries of transit. A migration experience that includes multiple, prolonged exposure to violence may have incomprehensible harmful effects on the development of children.”

 Ylva Sperling, Save the Children Europe director, said:

“The lack of protection at European borders has terrible consequences for children. Europe’s overwhelming emphasis on deterring arrivals means children are subjected to shocking violence by police and border guards; violence which is carried out with impunity.

“Wherever we go, Someone does us Harm”: Violence against refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe through the Balkans – World | ReliefWeb

 According to a recent report by the International Labour Organization, 27.6 million people are engaged in forced labor worldwide; an increase of 2.7 million over the past five years.

Forced labor is when people are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or even to pay off a debt. It’s common in many sectors around the world, from manufacturing to mining.

If you buy products in the European Union, you might assume that those products are free from forced labor. But this assumption would be wrong.

That is supposed to change with a new EU policy proposal released today, intended to prohibit products made with forced labor from being bought or sold on the common EU market. After various versions of the proposal being leaked to the press, the European Commission has now released its take at attempting a ban on forced labor. Though the proposal was broadly welcomed by both labor rights organizations and businesses, critics point to deficiencies — which might cut into its effectiveness.

“There seems to have been a reluctance to be very ambitious with this proposal from the very beginning,” said Christopher Patz, a policy officer with the European Coalition for Corporate Justice in Brussels. With groups campaigning for more than a decade, “It’s a disgrace it’s taken so long.”

The proposed regulation would allow any actor to submit a complaint over suspected forced labor to the national authority responsible for policing imports in an EU country, which the authority would then investigate. That body would be able to stop the product from entering the EU or even destroy it. Covering all products, it would also include setting up a public database indicating the likelihood of whether forced labor is taking place in a particular region.

“For maybe the first time, forced labor is clearly illegal to use and put on the market,” said Muriel Treibich, a lobby and advocacy coordinator with Clean Clothes Campaign.

“The Commission proposes to exclude goods from the market only after the existence of forced labor in their supply chain has been established, not when it is suspected,” said Anna Cavazzini, the German member of European Parliament who negotiated for the Greens on the topic.

This is different to US legislation, where authorities may prohibit imports based on reasonable suspicion. The US framework also places the onus on companies to prove their products are free from forced labor. The EU proposal, in contrast, places the burden of proof on European authorities, which are under-resourced and would end up doing piecemeal enforcement, critics say.

“I would have indeed been happier to see the burden of proof with the company in question as it is easier for them to gather information inside their supply chain,” Cavazzini explained.

The EU proposal’s high standard of evidence “makes it a bar that’s very high to meet for civil society and for national enforcers,” said Ben Vanpeperstraete, a senior legal adviser at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.  “It’s very unlikely that we’ll see much enforcement on this proposal.” 

Vanpeperstraete pointed out that companies have various means of handling potential cost increases; for example, by reducing their margins. With clothing, he said, wages make up about 1% of the retail price (marketing can comprise 50%). A company could shift resource allocation in production or raise prices. “A 1% price increase on a t-shirt — I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”

Patz pointed out, “If you can’t be sure your business model is not contributing to forced labor, then you shouldn’t be in business.” 

EU ban too feeble to fight forced labor, groups say | Europe | News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 14.09.2022

 Oxfam India’s Discrimination Report 2022 blames “societal and employers’ prejudices” for women’s lower wages. Other marginalised communities also suffered discrimination in the job market, the report found. These included those at the bottom of the caste system, tribespeople and members of the Muslim community.

 Private equity refers to an opaque form of financing away from public markets in which funds and investors buy and restructure companies including startups, troubled businesses and real estate operations. Globally, private equity manages trillions of dollars for wealthy individuals and institutional investors such as mutual funds, endowments and pension funds. The industry has invested an estimated $1tn in the energy sector since 2010, and while there’s been growth in renewables, the lion’s share is still in oil, gas and coal.  Unlike banks and other publicly listed companies, private equity firms are exempt from most financial disclosure rules, making it extremely difficult to track their assets – or risks. This means ordinary workers like firefighters, nurses and teachers – whose pension funds are invested in private equity funds – have little way of knowing if their retirement nest egg is tied up in fossil fuels, which scientists warn must be phased out to limit the extent of global heating.

Private equity firms pumping billions of dollars into dirty energy projects are exposing investors, including pensioners, to unknown financial risks as the planet burns and governments face escalating pressure to act, new research finds. 

The first-of-its-kind climate risks scorecard ranks Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and KKR as the worst offenders among eight major private equity companies with significant fossil fuel portfolios. All three continue investing heavily in greenhouse-gas-emitting projects with no adequate plan on transitioning away from oil and gas, according to the analysis by two financial watchdog non-profits of publicly available information. The firms also have scant transparency on political and climate lobbying, the report finds. The eight firms on the scorecard manage a combined $3.6tn in assets including about $216bn in energy projects – an amount equivalent to the fossil fuel financing by the world’s five biggest banks last year.

More than three-quarters of Carlyle’s energy investments are in fossil fuels, and just over 60% of its 2022 first half profits came through its subsidiary NGP Energy Capital, which focuses almost exclusively on oil and gas projects.

KKR, one of the world’s wealthiest private equity firms, has said it will continue to invest in fossil fuel projects

Private equity still investing billions in dirty energy despite pledge to clean up | Private equity | The Guardian

 Crushed by soaring food and fuel prices, barely any electricity, and a currency that buys less each day, people in Lebanon now risk losing access to two more essentials – their mobile phones and the internet. When Lebanon’s 140 ambulance service line – which is run by the Lebanese Red Cross and responds to 560 emergencies a day – went down last week, the charity posted alternative numbers on Twitter and Facebook.

“The problem is that not a lot of people have access to internet, and therefore it means that they will never read the post,” Nabih Jabr, Under-Secretary General at the Lebanese Red Cross, explained.

Costly phone and internet services are not just hurting those who need to call an ambulance or suicide hotline. It is also making it impossible for many Lebanese to earn a living.

Telecoms minister Johnny Corm warned earlier this month that Ogero would stop providing services nationwide – leaving Lebanon with no phone or internet services – unless it received money from the government to import diesel. This would make it impossible for Lebanon’s almost 7 million people to communicate, costing jobs and possibly lives

As Lebanon’s bankrupt government struggles to run its power plants, homes often receive only an hour of electricity a day. Those who can afford it buy diesel to run their own generators. Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value, food prices have gone up more than 11-fold, and more than 80% of the population have fallen below the poverty line. Once among the best in the Middle East, Lebanon’s medical system is crumbling as hospitals and surgeries struggle to cope with departing staff on top of financial troubles and shortages.

Lebanon in crisis: Emergency numbers and suicide hotlines falter (trust.org)