Category: Judicial

Jeers filled the air when lawmakers of the ruling ZANU-PF party celebrated after the Private Voluntary Organizations Amendment Bill, which regulates non-governmental organizations, passed in Zimbabwe’s Senate late Wednesday.

The legislation, which still awaits President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s signature, makes it a criminal offense for NGOs to support or oppose political parties or candidates in any election.

Supporters say the legislation is designed to curb financing for terrorism and money laundering in Zimbabwe. Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe’s justice minister, told Parliament after the bill passed that law-abiding NGOs have nothing to fear.

“All we are saying is: if you come and you say you want to assist – in quotes – water sanitation, you have not any business in getting into political lobbying,” he said. “So, we are saying: we want to follow the money where it is going. So, we believe that this is a progressive piece of legislation.”

But opposition lawmakers and human rights activists don’t see it that way.

Musa Kika, a human rights lawyer who heads the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said the law infringes on Zimbabweans’ basic rights.

“Our position is this law is unconstitutional,” he said. “It violates freedom of association. It violates citizens’ rights to organize and self-organize in spaces outside the state. So that’s our position that this law cannot and will not stand constitutional scrutiny by an independent and any competent court.”

Kika said the process to enact the bill had been driven by the president’s office, and that parliament ignored Zimbabweans’ objections during public hearings on the proposed legislation.

“And the consequences for our country are going to be dire,” he said. “From a social protection point of view, from [a] diminished accountability point of view, even economic fortunes given that development support in Zimbabwe was contributing annually almost $1 billion. We are going to see a significant reduction in those that find Zimbabwe being a safe space for them to bring their development support.”

Kika said the NGOs in Zimbabwe are now at the “mercy” of the government.

During the debate in Parliament, a member of the opposition, Morgen Komichi, said the new law would result in only the government’s voice being heard.

“In a democracy, there should be different voices,” he said. “People should air their views. They should converge, discuss and plan their things. In last 42 years, Zimbabwe hasn’t seen an organization which is a threat to government. Please do not enact this law….”

Meanwhile, a top local official of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – one of Zimbabwe’s major financiers – said the legislation could have major consequences. Priscilla Sampil, acting director of USAID Zimbabwe, told a local newspaper this week that the agency’s programs with local NGOs will be severely affected if President Mnangagwa signs the bill into law.

USAID has provided $4.5 billion in support to Zimbabwe since 1980 for water and

sanitation, HIV/AIDS and other health-related issues.

The agency declined to comment to VOA for this story.

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA — Millions of Ukrainians are suffering from acute shortages of food, water, shelter and other basic needs more than four months after Russia’s invasion, U.N. agencies say.

U.N. agencies are trying to provide assistance to Ukrainians in light of Russia’s invasion, but they say destruction from Russian airstrikes and artillery fire, plus security concerns, make delivery to some areas difficult. They say it is not possible to enter and provide relief supplies to Kherson and Mariupol, cities that have been pummeled into rubble by Russian airstrikes.

Speaking from Kyiv, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani, says an estimated 10,000 civilians have been killed and injured, adding this is probably a fraction of the true number. She says nearly 16 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance and protection.

“We are making every effort to support the people whose lives have been torn apart because of this war,” Lubrani said. “But the Russian Federation—also the Ukrainian government—have to do more to protect the people of this country and to make our work possible.”

Lubrani says the U.N. and private aid agencies have provided assistance to nearly 9 million people in every region in Ukraine. She adds nearly 2 million have received cash assistance for basic needs.

The Ukrainian crisis also is having a global impact. Russian ships are blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, preventing the country from exporting its wheat and grain to the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia. The United Nations warns this is causing a global hunger crisis.

World Food Program Deputy Emergency Coordinator Kate Newton says without the Black Sea ports it is not possible to get anywhere close to the export levels Ukraine needs.

“However, we are doing everything we can, which means by road, by rail and now by river, to try to get close to the maximum output,” Newton said. “And at the moment, we think it is about 1 million metric tons a month and maybe we can push up to 2 million, but we urgently need access to the Black Sea.”

Ukraine is considered one of the world’s breadbaskets. It provides about 10% of global wheat exports and nearly half the world’s sunflower oil.

The World Food Program says Ukraine exported up to 6 million tons of grain a month before the war. It says about 400 million people worldwide consumed Ukrainian products last year. Now that exports have largely stopped, WFP says about 20 million tons of grain are stuck in storage in Ukraine.

Source: Voice of America

Cannabis legalization in parts of the world appears to have accelerated daily use and related health impacts, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s World Drug Report 2022. Released today, the report also details record rises in the manufacturing of cocaine, the expansion of synthetic drugs to new markets, and continued gaps in the availability of drug treatments, especially for women. ?

According to the report, around 284 million people aged 15-64 used drugs worldwide in 2020, a 26 per cent increase over the previous decade. Young people are using more drugs, with use levels today in many countries higher than with the previous generation. In Africa and Latin America, people under 35 represent the majority of people being treated for drug use disorders.

Globally, the report estimates that 11.2 million people worldwide were injecting drugs. Around half of this number were living with hepatitis C, 1.4 million were living with HIV, and 1.2 million were living with both.

Reacting to these findings, UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly stated: “Numbers for the manufacturing and seizures of many illicit drugs are hitting record highs, even as global emergencies are deepening vulnerabilities. At the same time, misperceptions regarding the magnitude of the problem and the associated harms are depriving people of care and treatment and driving young people towards harmful behaviours. We need to devote the necessary resources and attention to addressing every aspect of the world drug problem, including the provision of evidence-based care to all who need it, and we need to improve the knowledge base on how illicit drugs relate to other urgent challenges, such as conflicts and environmental degradation.”

The report further emphasizes the importance of galvanizing the international community, governments, civil society and all stakeholders to take urgent action to protect people, including by strengthening drug use prevention and treatment and by tackling illicit drug supply.

Early indications and effects of cannabis legalization

Cannabis legalization in North America appears to have increased daily cannabis use, especially potent cannabis products and particularly among young adults. Associated increases in people with psychiatric disorders, suicides and hospitalizations have also been reported. Legalization has also increased tax revenues and generally reduced arrest rates for cannabis possession.

Continued growth in drug production and trafficking

Cocaine manufacture was at a record high in 2020, growing 11 per cent from 2019 to 1,982 tons. Cocaine seizures also increased, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, to a record 1,424 tons in 2020. Nearly 90 per cent of cocaine seized globally in 2021 was trafficked in containers and/or by sea. Seizure data suggest that cocaine trafficking is expanding to other regions outside the main markets of North America and Europe, with increased levels of trafficking to Africa and Asia.

Trafficking of methamphetamine continues to expand geographically, with 117 countries reporting seizures of methamphetamine in 2016?2020 versus 84 in 2006?2010. Meanwhile, the quantities of methamphetamine seized grew five-fold between 2010 and 2020.

Opium production worldwide grew seven per cent between 2020 and 2021 to 7,930 tons – predominantly due to an increase in production in Afghanistan. However, the global area under opium poppy cultivation fell by 16 per cent to 246,800 ha in the same period.

Key drug trends broken down by region

In many countries in Africa and South and Central America, the largest proportion of people in treatment for drug use disorders are there primarily for cannabis use disorders. In Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and in Central Asia, people are most often in treatment for opioid use disorders.

In the United States and Canada, overdose deaths, predominantly driven by an epidemic of the non-medical use of fentanyl, continue to break records. Preliminary estimates in the United States point to more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, up from nearly 92,000 in 2020.

In the two largest markets for methamphetamine, seizures have been increasing – they rose by seven per cent in North America from the previous year, while in South-East Asia they increased by 30 per cent from the previous year, record highs in both regions. A record high was also reported for methamphetamine seizures reported from South-West Asia, increasing by 50 per cent in 2020 from 2019.

Great inequality remains in the availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical consumption. In 2020, there were 7,500 more doses per 1 million inhabitants?of controlled pain medication in North America than in West and Central Africa.

Conflict zones as magnets for synthetic drug production

This year’s report also highlights that illicit drug economies can flourish in situations of conflict and where the rule of law is weak, and in turn can prolong or fuel conflict.

Information from the Middle East and South-East Asia suggest that conflict situations can act as a magnet for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, which can be produced anywhere. This effect may be greater when the conflict area is close to large consumer markets.

Historically, parties to conflict have used drugs to finance conflict and generate income. The 2022 World Drug Report also reveals that conflicts may also disrupt and shift drug trafficking routes, as has happened in the Balkans and more recently in Ukraine.

A possible growing capacity to manufacture amphetamine in Ukraine if the conflict persists

There was a significant increase in the number of reported clandestine laboratories in Ukraine, skyrocketing from 17 dismantled laboratories in 2019 to 79 in 2020. 67 out of these laboratories were producing amphetamines, up from five in 2019 – the highest number of dismantled laboratories reported in any given country in 2020.

The environmental impacts of drug markets

Illicit drug markets, according to the 2022 World Drug Report, can have local, community or individual-level impacts on the environment. Key findings include that the carbon footprint of indoor cannabis is between 16 and 100 times more than outdoor cannabis on average and that the footprint of 1 kilogram of cocaine is 30 times greater than that of cocoa beans.

Other environmental impacts include substantial deforestation associated with illicit coca cultivation, waste generated during synthetic drug manufacture that can be 5-30 times the volume of the end product, and the dumping of waste which can affecting soil, water and air directly, as well as organisms, animals and the food chain indirectly.

Ongoing gender treatment gap and disparities in drug use and treatment

Women remain in the minority of drug users globally yet tend to increase their rate of drug consumption and progress to drug use disorders more rapidly than men do. Women now represent an estimated 45-49 per cent of users of amphetamines and non-medical users of pharmaceutical stimulants, pharmaceutical opioids, sedatives, and tranquilizers.

The treatment gap remains large for women globally. Although women represent almost one in two amphetamines users, they constitute only one in five people in treatment for amphetamine use disorders.

The World Drug Report 2022 also spotlights the wide range of roles fulfilled by women in the global cocaine economy, including cultivating coca, transporting small quantities of drugs, selling to consumers, and smuggling into prisons.

The 2022 World Drug Report provides a global overview of the supply and demand of opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as their impact on health.

Source: UN Office on Drugs and Crime

A new study has found that Facebook has failed to catch Islamic State group and al-Shabab extremist content in posts aimed at East Africa as the region remains under threat from violent attacks and Kenya prepares to vote in a closely contested national election.

An Associated Press series last year, drawing on leaked documents shared by a Facebook whistleblower, showed how the platform repeatedly failed to act on sensitive content including hate speech in many places around the world.

The new and unrelated two-year study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found Facebook posts that openly supported IS or the Somalia-based al-Shabab — even ones carrying al-Shabab branding and calling for violence in languages including Swahili, Somali and Arabic — were allowed to be widely shared.

The report expresses particular concern with narratives linked to the extremist groups that accuse Kenyan government officials and politicians of being enemies of Muslims, who make up a significant part of the East African nation’s population. The report notes that “xenophobia toward Somali communities in Kenya has long been rife.”

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab has been described as the deadliest extremist group in Africa, and it has carried out high-profile attacks in recent years in Kenya far from its base in neighboring Somalia. The new study found no evidence of Facebook posts that planned specific attacks, but its authors and Kenyan experts warn that allowing even general calls to violence is a threat to the closely contested August presidential election.

Already, concerns about hate speech around the vote, both online and off, are growing.

“They chip away at that trust in democratic institutions,” report researcher Moustafa Ayad told the AP of the extremist posts.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue found 445 public profiles, some with duplicate accounts, sharing content linked to the two extremist groups and tagging more than 17,000 other accounts. Among the narratives shared were accusations that Kenya and the United States are enemies of Islam, and among the posted content was praise by al-Shabab’s official media arm for the killing of Kenyan soldiers.

Even when Facebook took down pages, they would quickly be reconstituted under different names, Ayad said, describing serious lapses by both artificial intelligence and human moderators.

“Why are they not acting on rampant content put up by al-Shabab?” he asked. “You’d think that after 20 years of dealing with al-Qaida, they’d have a good understanding of the language they use, the symbolism.”

He said the authors have discussed their findings with Facebook and some of the accounts have been taken down. He said the authors also plan to share the findings with Kenya’s government.

Ayad said both civil society and government bodies such as Kenya’s national counterterrorism center should be aware of the problem and encourage Facebook to do more.

Asked for comment, Facebook requested a copy of the report before its publication, which was refused.

The company then responded with an emailed statement.

“We’ve already removed a number of these pages and profiles and will continue to investigate once we have access to the full findings,” Facebook wrote Tuesday, not giving any name, citing security concerns. “We don’t allow terrorist groups to use Facebook, and we remove content praising or supporting these organizations when we become aware of it. We have specialized teams — which include native Arabic, Somali and Swahili speakers — dedicated to this effort.”

Concerns about Facebook’s monitoring of content are global, say critics.

“As we have seen in India, the United States, the Philippines, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the consequences of failing to moderate content posted by extremist groups and supporters can be deadly, and can push democracy past the brink,” the watchdog The Real Facebook Oversight Board said of the new report, adding that Kenya at the moment is a “microcosm of everything that’s wrong” with Facebook owner Meta.

“The question is, who should ask Facebook to step up and do its work?” asked Leah Kimathi, a Kenyan consultant in governance, peace and security, who suggested that government bodies, civil society and consumers all can play a role. “Facebook is a business. The least they can do is ensure that something they’re selling to us is not going to kill us.”

Source: Voice of America

Zimbabwe is seeking international support to be allowed to sell its stockpile of seized ivory, saying the $600 million it expects to earn is urgently needed for the conservation of its rapidly growing elephant population which it describes as “dangerous.”

Officials from the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority showed ambassadors from European Union countries the stockpile of ivory tusks that have been seized from poachers and collected from elephants that have died.

The Zimbabwean officials appealed to the European Union and other countries to support the sale of ivory which has been banned since 1989 by CITES, the international body that monitors endangered species.

Zimbabwe has 130 tons of ivory and 6 to 7 tons of rhino horn, said Mangwanya.

Envoys from the Netherlands, Germany, France, Britain, Switzerland, Canada and the United States viewed the ivory tusks in heavily guarded vaults in Harare.

Swiss ambassador to Zimbabwe Niculin Jager, speaking on behalf of the envoys, emphasized the need to fight the poaching of elephants.

“Conservation and prevention of illegal wildlife trade is an international issue because of the involvement of criminal syndicates in illegal wildlife trade, hence there is need to strengthen international co-operation,” he said.

Later this month Zimbabwe will be hosting what it calls an “elephant summit” in which representatives of 14 African countries, as well as from China and Japan, will consider ways to manage the populations of the world’s largest land animal.

“We need assistance. These elephants are multiplying at a dangerous rate, 5% per annum,” the parks and wildlife agency’s director-general, Fulton Mangwanya, said during the tour.

Zimbabwe’s estimated 100,000 elephants are double the carrying capacity of its national parks. The overcrowded elephants are destroying the trees and shrubs that are vital for them and other wildlife, say parks officials.

Zimbabwe’s elephant population is getting so big that Mangwanya warned “it will be very difficult for us to do anything but culling which is opposed by everyone.”

Neighboring Botswana has the world’s largest elephant population with more than 130,000. Together Zimbabwe and Botswana have nearly 50% of the world’s elephants. The two countries say they are struggling to cope with the booming numbers and are pressing to be allowed to sell their stockpiles of tusks seized from poachers or removed from dead elephants.

Other African countries, such as Kenya, insist that all ivory sales should be banned to discourage any international trade in ivory.

In addition to banning ivory sales, CITES in 2019 also imposed restrictions on the sales of wild elephants caught in Zimbabwe and Botswana, a move that pleased some conservationists but dismayed officials struggling to manage their overloaded parks.

There is a flourishing illegal trade in ivory in which international syndicates fund poachers to kill elephants and saw off their ivory tusks. The ivory is then smuggled overseas, where there is a demand for ivory for jewelry and trinkets.

Increased poaching and loss of habitat have made Africa’s elephant populations more endangered, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said last year.

Zimbabwe and Botswana say they are ill-equipped to deal with poachers without the money from ivory sales, especially because earnings from tourism have dwindled due to COVID—19 related travel restrictions since 2020.

Zimbabwe has pledged to use “all” proceeds from ivory sales to fund conservation in its wildlife parks and to support communities that live near parks and “bear the brunt” of conflict with the wildlife, said Mangwanya. Zimbabwe argues that funds that benefit people who live near the parks will motivate them to support the fight against poaching instead of relying on it for their livelihoods.

Zimbabwe proposes a “once-off sale in this COVID—19 pandemic era,” Mangwanya said.

“There is a great market for valuable ivory and we can’t trade to generate financial resources for the implementation of elephant management plans,” Mangwanya said. “It’s now worse with COVID and with low business in tourism where we derive our revenue from. Where do we get the money to look after the resources?” (backslash)

Source: Voice of America