The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
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Week ending 25 August 2018

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

PDF – The Sentinel_ period ending 25 Aug 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Ebola

Spiralling violence puts millions at risk in Ebola-hit eastern DRC
24 Aug 2018
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is alarmed by the latest escalation of violence in already volatile and Ebola-hit North Kivu province in east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The cumulative effect of conflict and the outbreak of the deadly disease is threatening millions of Congolese.

The fighting involving a number of armed groups operating in the area has intensified in all six territories in North Kivu, a province bordering Rwanda and Uganda. Thousands of civilians have fled their burned out villages, bringing reports of brutal attacks. The already dire humanitarian situation has been further aggravated by an outbreak of Ebola virus in parts of the province. The disease has killed more than 60 people and infected dozens more in recent weeks.

Forced displacement in this part of the country remains massive. It is estimated that more than a million people are displaced in North Kivu. This is the highest concentration of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the DRC. An estimated half a million people have been forced from their homes this year alone.

UNHCR is particularly worried about the deteriorating situation in the Ebola-hit northern territory of Beni. The area is home to some 1.3 million people. Spiralling conflict has left the population living there virtually in a state of siege since October 2017. Reports of increased human rights violations and restrictions of humanitarian access are frequent. Estimates are that more than 100 armed groups are active in the province, continually terrorizing the population. Despite a large-scale military offensive of the Congolese Army against one of the main rebel groups, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) since January, there has been no let-up in the violence.

Despite security challenges, a UNHCR team accessed the area north of Beni earlier this month and conducted humanitarian assessments in Oicha and Eringeti districts. Residents told our staff about brutal attacks against the civilians carried out with machetes. Stories of massacres, extortion, forced displacement and other human rights violations are frequent.

Sexual and gender-based violence is rampant across the Beni territory. Many children are being recruited as child soldiers. The violence is particularly rampant in the so-called “triangle of death,” between the towns of Eringeti, Mbau and Kamango, on the Uganda-DRC border, as well as in the towns of Beni, Oicha and Mavivi.

UNHCR teams witnessed empty villages, countless torched and abandoned houses, as well as burnt cars. Those who fled found shelter mostly in Beni and Oicha, where both host and displaced communities fall prey to brutal and unpredictable attacks. Beni town hosts more than 32,000 displaced people, with the majority forced to live with host families or in schools or churches. More than two thirds have been forced to flee in the last three months.

UNHCR teams found the vulnerable displaced indigenous communities to be in some of the most critical situations. Forced out of their areas of origin in the forests, their living conditions in makeshift sites are abysmal. Families are sleeping rough, barely protected from the elements by their flimsy shelters. They have few or no means of survival as they can no longer hunt in the forests, now under the control of armed groups. There’s a genuine risk of these people losing their culture and way of life.

UNHCR is scaling up its capacity in North Kivu to respond to the growing humanitarian needs. We are arranging additional emergency shelters and other humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of the displaced in Beni. While UNHCR’s humanitarian response is continuing despite the outbreak of Ebola, the prevailing security situation and drastic funding shortfall severely hamper our efforts. UNHCR’s DRC 2018 appeal totalling USD 201 million is only 17 per cent funded.

Governance – Venezuela

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UNHCR and IOM Chiefs Call for More Support as the Outflow of Venezuelans Rises Across the Region
2018-08-23
Geneva – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and the Director General of the United Nations Migration Agency, IOM, William Lacy Swing appealed for greater support from the international community to the countries and communities in the region receiving a growing number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela. With an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad, more than 1.6 million have left the country since 2015, 90 per cent of them to countries within South America.

Grandi and Swing commended States in the region for generously hosting Venezuelan nationals arriving at their borders. They nonetheless expressed concern over several recent developments affecting refugees and migrants from Venezuela. These include new passport and border entry requirements in Ecuador and Peru, as well as changes to the temporary stay permits for Venezuelans in Peru.

“We recognise the growing challenges associated with the large scale arrival of Venezuelans. It remains critical that any new measures continue to allow those in need of international protection to access safety and seek asylum,” stressed Grandi.

“We commend the efforts already made by receiving countries to provide Venezuelans with security, support and assistance. We trust that these demonstrations of solidarity will continue in the future,” said IOM´s Director General, Ambassador Swing, in Geneva Thursday.

Of particular concern are the most vulnerable—such as adolescent boys and girls, women, people trying to reunite with their families and unaccompanied and separated children who are unlikely to be able to meet documentation requirements and will therefore be placed at further risk of exploitation, trafficking and violence.

UNHCR, IOM, UN agencies and other partners are working in support of national responses by governments in the region to this complex human mobility and protection situation. This current situation underlines the urgent need to increase international engagement and solidarity in support of the governments’ response plans and addressing the most pressing humanitarian needs, in order to assure that those are met, safe transit is guaranteed and social and economic integration can be provided in line with larger development strategies.

Following the commitments of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, timely and predictable support by the international community is needed for fairer sharing of responsibilities and to complement the efforts of host countries.

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Venezuela: General Secretariat Urges Countries to Ignore Extradition Requests from the Dictatorship
August 21. 2018
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS) calls on the competent authorities of the hemisphere to ignore all attempted acts by the illegitimate supreme court of justice operating in Caracas under the dictatorial regime, and in particular to dismiss extradition requests made by this body as contrary to the law.

Today the only democratic institutions in Venezuela due to their constitutional origin, their composition in accordance with constitutional procedures and their functions are: the National Assembly (a result of the elections of December 2015); the legitimate Supreme Court of Justice (in exile and whose magistrates were designated by the National Assembly); and the Attorney General (also in exile and illegitimately dismissed by the fraudulent National Constituent Assembly.)

Only the acts of these three institutions have the legitimacy and legality that demand compliance by all state entities in Venezuela, and their validation by the Inter-American and international community.

Venezuela is a dictatorship, the National Constituent Assembly was elected through fraud, and the Executive Power and the Electoral Power have illegitimate origins and the procedures for the composition of their highest magistrates have been either unconstitutional or fraudulent.

In addition to principles and values, there is a need to translate the legal and political consequences of the breakdown of the institutional order in Venezuela into practice.

In recent days we have witnessed spurious extradition requests made by the illegitimate supreme court of justice of the dictatorship headed by its illegal president Maikel Moreno.

These “extradition requests” linked to the alleged attack against Nicolás Maduro are flawed and should be ignored by the international community because the body that issues them is fraudulent, its members are impostors, and their positions illegal.

Humanitarian Response – Budget Constraint Strategies

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Optimal Targeting under Budget Constraints in a Humanitarian Context
World Bank – Policy Research Working Paper 8191 :: 25 pages
Chiara Gigliarano, Paolo Verme
Abstract
The combination of conflict, food insecurity, and displacement generates competing claims for financial resources that stretch the donors’ ability to provide funding and the humanitarian organizations’ capacity to provide social assistance. The paper uses Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and related indexes to determine the optimal targeting strategy of a food voucher program for refugees.

The estimations focus on the 2014 food vouchers administered by the World Food Programme to Syrian refugees in Jordan. The analysis uses data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Based on a poverty model, Receiver Operating Characteristic curves are used to optimize coverage and leakage rates under budget constraints. The paper shows how policy makers can use these instruments to fine-tune targeting using coverage rates, budgets, or poverty lines as guiding principles to increase the overall efficiency of a program. As humanitarian organizations operate under increasing budget constraints and increasing demands for efficiency, the proposed approach addresses both concerns.

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

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New Study Looks at How to Optimally Target Humanitarian Assistance When Budgets are Stretched – World Bank
Date: August 23, 2018 Type: Publication
As violent conflict surges, the world today faces multiple related crises – from forced displacement to food insecurity – that are driving up the need for humanitarian assistance. Yet budgets remain constrained, and humanitarian organizations are increasingly being forced to make tough choices, having to target resources as universal coverage of assistance programs becomes the exception rather than the rule.

In such situations, improving targeting can make the difference between life and death for some displaced people, says a new World Bank working paper, Optimal Targeting under Budget Constraints in a Humanitarian Context.

The paper aims to contribute to making targeting more effective when budgets are stretched. It utilizes Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves and related indices to devise a methodology for optimizing coverage, poverty reduction and leakage, focusing on social protection programs (cash transfers).

The proposed methodology can be used when policy makers work with coverage, poverty or budget targets. It looks at questions such as: (i) What is the budget required to reduce poverty (or mitigate famine) by X percent? (ii) What is the budget required to increase household coverage by Y percent? (iii) What is the coverage or poverty reduction we can obtain with a given Z budget? (iv) Can the program’s efficiency be improved by shifting the poverty line? The answers can help donors take funding decisions and humanitarian organizations make targeting choices.

As a case study, the paper uses the food voucher program administered by the World Food Programme (WFP) to Syrian refugees in Jordan in 2014, to show how this method can be applied, relying on available micro data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The paper cautions that this method cannot be applied in all contexts. Quality micro data is not always available and outcomes such as nutrition levels may be more important than poverty reduction in emergency situations.

But all humanitarian operations with budget limitations that use cash or food vouchers as a form of social protection face the same targeting challenges, and operations may need to rely on less accurate targeting criteria.

“As we work with UNHCR and partners to improve the quality of micro data, this paper implicitly shows that collecting income or consumption data can also lead to improvements in the measurement of outcomes and in the effectiveness of targeting,” said co-author Paul Verme, World Bank lead economist.

Development – Disruptive Technologies

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World Bank Prices First Global Blockchain Bond, Raising A$110 Million
[Editor’s text bolding]
WASHINGTON/SYDNEY, August 23/24, 2018 – The World Bank launched bond-i (blockchain operated new debt instrument), the world’s first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and managed through its life cycle using distributed ledger technology. The two-year bond raised A$110 million, marking the first time that investors have supported the World Bank’s development activities in a transaction that is fully managed using the blockchain technology.

The World Bank mandated Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) as arranger for the bond on August 10. The announcement was followed by a two-week consultation period with the market, with key investors indicating strong support for the issuance.

Investors in the bond include CBA, First State Super, NSW Treasury Corporation, Northern Trust, QBE, SAFA, and Treasury Corporation of Victoria. CBA and the World Bank will continue to welcome investor interest in the bond throughout its life cycle, and inquiries from other market participants in relation to the platform.

The bond is part of a broader strategic focus of the World Bank to harness the potential of disruptive technologies for development. In June 2017, the World Bank launched a Blockchain Innovation Lab to understand the impact of blockchain and other disruptive technologies in areas such as land administration, supply chain management, health, education, cross-border payments, and carbon market trading.

Arunma Oteh, World Bank Treasurer, said: “I am delighted that this pioneer bond transaction using the distributed ledger technology, bond-i, was extremely well received by investors. We are particularly impressed with the breath of interest from official institutions, fund managers, and banks. We were no doubt successful in moving from concept to reality because these high-quality investors understood the value of leveraging technology for innovation in capital markets…

Featured Journal Content – GBV Services Delivery

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Health Policy and Planning
Volume 33, Issue 7, 1 September 2018,
https://academic.oup.com/heapol/issue/33/7
Original Articles
Evaluation of a mobile approach to gender-based violence service delivery among Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Pamela Lilleston [plillston@gmail.com]; Liliane Winograd; Spogmay Ahmed; Dounia Salamé; Dayana Al Alam …
Health Policy and Planning, Volume 33, Issue 7, 1 September 2018, Pages 767–776, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czy050
Abstract
As the landscape of humanitarian response shifts from camp-based to urban- and informal-tented settlement-based responses, service providers and policymakers must consider creative modes for delivering health services. Psychosocial support and case management can be life-saving services for refugee women and girls who are at increased risk for physical, sexual and psychological gender-based violence (GBV). However, these services are often unavailable in non-camp refugee settings. We evaluated an innovative mobile service delivery model for GBV response and mitigation implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Lebanon. In October 2015, we conducted in-depth interviews with IRC staff (n=11), Syrian refugee women (n=40) and adolescent girls (n=26) to explore whether the mobile services meet the support needs of refugees and uphold international standards for GBV service delivery. Recruitment was conducted via purposive sampling. Data were analysed using deductive and inductive approaches in NVivo. Findings suggest that by providing free, flexible service delivery in women’s own communities, the mobile model overcame barriers that limited women’s and girls’ access to essential services, including transportation, checkpoints, cost and gendered expectations around mobility and domestic responsibilities. Participants described the services as strengthening social networks, reducing feelings of idleness and isolation, and increasing knowledge and self-confidence. Results indicate that the model requires skilled, creative staff who can assess community readiness for activities, quickly build trust and ensure confidentiality in contexts of displacement and disruption. Referring survivors to legal and medical services was challenging in a context with limited access to quality services. The IRC’s mobile service delivery model is a promising approach for accessing hard-to-reach refugee populations with critical GBV services.

Featured Journal Content – Heritage Stewardship

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
[Accessed 25 Aug 2018]
A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa’s first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya
Elisabeth A. Hildebrand, Katherine M. Grillo, Elizabeth A. Sawchuk, Susan K. Pfeiffer, Lawrence B. Conyers, Steven T. Goldstein, Austin Chad Hill, Anneke Janzen, Carla E. Klehm, Mark Helper, Purity Kiura, Emmanuel Ndiema, Cecilia Ngugi, John J. Shea, and Hong Wang
PNAS August 20, 2018. 201721975; published ahead of print August 20, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115
Significance
Archaeologists have long sought monumental architecture’s origins among societies that were becoming populous, sedentary, and territorial. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, dispersed pastoralists pioneered monumental construction. Eastern Africa’s earliest monumental site was built by the region’s first herders ∼5,000–4,300 y ago as the African Humid Period ended and Lake Turkana’s shoreline receded. Lothagam North Pillar Site was a massive communal cemetery with megalithic pillars, stone circles, cairns, and a mounded platform accommodating an estimated several hundred burials. Its mortuary cavity held individuals of mixed ages/sexes, with diverse adornments. Burial placement and ornamentation do not suggest social hierarchy. Amidst profound landscape changes and the socioeconomic uncertainties of a moving pastoral frontier, monumentality was an important unifying force for eastern Africa’s first herders.

Abstract
Monumental architecture is a prime indicator of social complexity, because it requires many people to build a conspicuous structure commemorating shared beliefs. Examining monumentality in different environmental and economic settings can reveal diverse reasons for people to form larger social units and express unity through architectural display. In multiple areas of Africa, monumentality developed as mobile herders created large cemeteries and practiced other forms of commemoration. The motives for such behavior in sparsely populated, unpredictable landscapes may differ from well-studied cases of monumentality in predictable environments with sedentary populations. Here we report excavations and ground-penetrating radar surveys at the earliest and most massive monumental site in eastern Africa. Lothagam North Pillar Site was a communal cemetery near Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) constructed 5,000 years ago by eastern Africa’s earliest pastoralists. Inside a platform ringed by boulders, a 119.5-m2 mortuary cavity accommodated an estimated minimum of 580 individuals. People of diverse ages and both sexes were buried, and ornaments accompanied most individuals. There is no evidence for social stratification. The uncertainties of living on a “moving frontier” of early herding—exacerbated by dramatic environmental shifts—may have spurred people to strengthen social networks that could provide information and assistance. Lothagam North Pillar Site would have served as both an arena for interaction and a tangible reminder of shared identity.

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 23 August 2018 [GPEI]
Summary of new viruses this week:
Afghanistan – two new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) positive environmental samples. Democratic Republic of the Congo – circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 detected in the stool samples of two healthy contacts of two different negative AFP cases.
Nigeria – one new case of cVDPV2, and two new cVDPV2 positive environmental samples. Somalia – one new case of cVDPV2. See country sections below for more details.

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 25 Aug 2018]
The Syrian Arab Republic
:: Critical funding shortage threatens WHO’s response in northwest Syria
20 August 2018 – As the conflict in northwest Syria escalates, WHO is appealing for US$ 11 million to provide life-saving health care to people in parts of Aleppo, Hama, Idleb and Lattakia governorates.
Hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been previously displaced, may be displaced yet again as they flee growing insecurity and violence. The situation in Idleb is particularly dire; more than half a million people have been displaced to and within the governorate since January 2017…

Iraq  – No new announcements identified
Nigeria  – No new announcements identified
South Sudan  – No new announcements identified
Yemen  – No new announcements identified
 
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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 25 Aug 2018]
Myanmar 
:: Major outbreaks averted, thousands of lives saved; but Rohingyas continue to be vulnerable: WHO  24 August 2018
Ukraine
:: Measles cases hit record high in the European Region  20 August 2018

Cameroon  – No new announcements identified
Central African Republic  – No new announcements identified.
Democratic Republic of the Congo  – No new announcements identified
Ethiopia  – No new announcements identified.
Libya – No new announcements identified.
Niger  – No new announcements identified.

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Yemen
:: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 9 – 15 August 2018 |

Syrian Arab Republic   – No new announcements identified.

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
Ethiopia  – No new announcements identified.
Somalia   – No new announcements identified.

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 18 August 2018

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

The Sentinel_ period ending 18 Aug 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Kofi Atta Annan, diplomat, born 8 April 1938; died 18 August 2018

Please also see statements by a number of UN agencies, IGOs and other organizations throughout this edition.

The Elders mourn the loss of Kofi Annan
The Elders are shocked and deeply saddened at the passing of their dear friend and colleague Kofi Annan, who was the globally admired and respected Chair of The Elders.
Press release 17 August 2018
The Elders are shocked and deeply saddened at the passing of their dear friend and colleague Kofi Annan, who was the globally admired and respected Chair of The Elders.

A founding member of The Elders, Kofi Annan succeeded Archbishop Desmond Tutu as Chair in May 2013. He played a vital role in leading The Elders’ work, and was a voice of great authority and wisdom in public and private, most recently on visits to South Africa and Zimbabwe in July 2018.

As the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006, he was a constant advocate for human rights, development and the rule of law. The first Secretary-General to reach the post from within an organisation he served for over 40 years, Kofi Annan had a life-long commitment to the cause of peace and was known for his staunch opposition to military aggression, notably the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The great respect for him and his essential work was illustrated when he, together with the United Nations as a whole, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Deputy Chair of The Elders, said:
“We are devastated at the loss of our dear friend and fellow Elder. Kofi was a strong and inspiring presence to us all, and The Elders would not be where it is today without his leadership. Throughout his life, Kofi worked unceasingly to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. While we mourn his passing today, we resolve as Elders to continue to uphold his values and legacy into the future”.

In retirement, Kofi Annan continued where he had left off at the United Nations, founding and leading the work of the Kofi Annan Foundation, based in Geneva, and maintaining a hectic international schedule. His quiet advice on how best to defuse impending crises was in constant demand from all corners of the globe, in particular from Africa.

All of the Elders and their Advisory Council and staff team members send their heartfelt condolences to Kofi’s family: his wife Nane, his children and grandchildren. They have lost a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

The world has lost an inspiring figure – but one whose achievements will never be forgotten, and whose commitment to peace and justice will endure to inspire future generations.

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Opinion by Kofi Annan 30 July 2018
Donald Trump’s deal must put Palestinian rights centre stage
Writing in the Financial Times, Kofi Annan welcomes fresh approaches to peacemaking but warns that any deal that does not address the root causes of the conflict will be doomed to failure.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on the dynamic, irreplaceable Kofi Annan
18 August 2018
“I am grief-stricken over the death of Kofi Annan. Kofi was humanity’s best example, the epitome, of human decency and grace. In a world now filled with leaders who are anything but that, our loss, the world’s loss becomes even more painful.

He was a friend to thousands and a leader of millions. To me — like to so many in the UN, he was my immediate boss when I was thirty-one years of age — and what a boss! He was always courageous, direct in speech, but never discourteous — never discourteous. Later, when I was an ambassador at the UN he inspired us, by being a dynamic and charismatic leader in his capacity as Secretary-General. And most of all, he was a friend and counsel — to me and to so many others. Whenever — as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, I felt isolated and alone politically (which, in the last four years, was often) I would go for long walks with him around Geneva — and listen.

When I told him once how everyone was grumbling about me, he looked at me — like a father would look at a son — and said sternly: “you’re doing the right thing, let them grumble.” Then he grinned!

There are some human beings who will seem irreplaceable to us, rare human beings. Kofi Annan is high among them.
Goodbye my dear friend … goodbye Kofi.”

Human Rights – Governance

Secretary-General Appoints Michelle Bachelet of Chile United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
10 August 2018
SG/A/1824*-BIO/5114*-HR/5405*
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, following approval by the General Assembly, has appointed Michelle Bachelet of Chile the next United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She will succeed Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service to the United Nations.

Ms. Bachelet ended her second four-year term as President of Chile in March 2018, having already held the position between 2006 and 2010. The first woman elected to Chile’s highest office, after her first term, she joined the United Nations as the first Executive Director of the newly established United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

A long-time human rights champion and ground-breaking leader, Ms. Bachelet is a paediatrician who began her Government career as an adviser in the Ministry of Health, rising quickly to become the first woman to lead Chile’s Health Ministry in 2000 and its Defence Ministry in 2002.

Ms. Bachelet became involved in Chilean human rights activism in the early 1970s. She and her parents were political prisoners, and her father, a general in the air force, died in prison. After their release, Ms. Bachelet and her mother spent several years in exile. She returned to Chile in 1979, finished school and became a paediatrician and public health advocate.

The holder of a medical degree, Ms. Bachelet also studied military strategy at Chile’s National Academy of Strategy and Policy and at the Inter-American Defense College in the United States.

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Zeid warmly welcomes appointment of new UN Human Rights Chief
GENEVA (10 August 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday warmly welcomed the UN General Assembly’s appointment of Michelle Bachelet to succeed him when his mandate comes to an end on 31 August 2018.

“I am truly delighted by the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,” Zeid said. “She has all the attributes – courage, perseverance, passion, and a deep commitment to human rights – to make her a successful High Commissioner. The UN Human Rights Office looks forward to welcoming her and working under her leadership for the promotion and protection of all human rights, for everyone, everywhere.”

Bachelet most recently served as President of Chile (from 2014 to 2018, and 2006 to 2010). She was the first Executive Director of UN-Women between 2010 and 2013. She has also served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Health in Chile. The UN General Assembly today approved the UN Secretary-General’s appointment of Bachelet for a four-year term as High Commissioner.

Michelle Bachelet will be the seventh High Commissioner since the Office was created in 1993. Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein has been in office since 1 September 2014. His predecessors are: José Ayala-Lasso (1994-97); Mary Robinson (1997-2002); Sergio Vieira de Mello (2002-03); Louise Arbour (2004-08); and Navi Pillay (2008-14).

Irregular Migration/Deportations – Children

Children returned to Central America and Mexico at heightened risk of violence, stigma and deprivation
UNICEF Child Alert report shows dangerous journeys and deportations intensify root causes of irregular migration

NEW YORK/PANAMA CITY, 16 August 2018 – Extreme violence, poverty and lack of opportunity are not only powerful drivers of irregular child migration from northern Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) and Mexico, but also consequences of deportations from Mexico and the United States – UNICEF said today in a new report. The children’s agency also urged governments to work together in implementing solutions shown to help alleviate the root causes of irregular and forced migration and safeguard the wellbeing of refugee and migrant children along the journey.

Uprooted in Central America and Mexico examines the array of challenges and dangers faced by migrant and refugee children and families during the arduous process of migration and return.
“As this report shows, millions of children in the region are victims of poverty, indifference, violence, forced migration and the fear of deportation,” said María Cristina Perceval, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “In many cases, children who are sent back to their countries of origin have no home to return to, end up deep in debt or are targeted by gangs. Being returned to impossible situations makes it more likely that they will migrate again.”

More specifically, the report’s findings include:
Poverty – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, with 44, 68 and 74 per cent of children living in poverty in each country respectively. Poor children and families often take out loans to finance their irregular migration to the U.S., leaving them in an even more precarious financial situation when they are apprehended and sent back without money and unable to repay their loans. This economic pressure can leave children and families without homes or the resources to pay for essentials.

Violence – Gang violence is pervasive in many communities across northern Central America, with children targeted for recruitment, abuse and even murder. Between 2008 and 2016 in Honduras, for instance, roughly one child fell victim to homicide each day. Likewise, in El Salvador, 365 children were murdered in 2017, while in Guatemala 942 violent deaths of children were reported last year. Children and families who migrate due to the threat of violence may be at even greater risk if they are forcibly returned without any support or protection to these communities where they were previously in danger. Many returnees end up being internally displaced because it is unsafe for them to return home.

Stigmatization – Returned children and families face stigmatization within the community because of their failed attempts to make it to Mexico or the U.S. This can make it harder for returning children to reintegrate into school and for adults to find employment.

Separation and detention – Detention and family separation by migration authorities are deeply traumatizing experiences that can adversely affect a child’s long-term development. Keeping families together and supporting alternatives to detention are key measures to ensure the best interest of migrant and refugee children.

The report also outlines a series of recommendations to keep refugee and migrant children safe and reduce the factors that push families and children to leave their homes in search of safety or a more hopeful future via irregular and dangerous migration routes.

“It’s essential to address the risks faced by migrant and refugee children and the root causes that contribute to large-scale population movements,” said Perceval. “Government leaders have an opportunity now to do the right thing. This means implementing proven approaches that can help alleviate the root causes; protect children in transit and upon reaching their destinations; provide children with access to essential services throughout the migration journey; ensure that deportation and return take place only when they are in the best interest of the child; and provide them with the protection and support needed to successfully reintegrate.”

UNICEF-supported programmes in northern Central America and Mexico are making a difference, but while many young migrants, refugees and returnees are benefitting, these initiatives would have to be scaled up enormously to meet all of the challenges facing the region’s children at risk.

Key Data
:: 68,409 migrant children were detained in Mexico between 2016 and April 2018 – 91 per cent of whom were deported to Central America.
:: Some 96,216 migrants from northern Central America, including 24,189 women and children, were returned from Mexico and the U.S. between January and June of this year. More than 90 per cent were deported from Mexico

Conflict – Displacement – Risk

Risk Preferences and the Decision to Flee Conflict
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper – Ceriani, Lidia; Verme, Paolo.
2018 :: 41 pages
Abstract
Despite the growing numbers of forcibly displaced persons worldwide, many people living under conflict choose not to flee. Individuals face two lotteries — staying or leaving — characterized by two distributions of potential outcomes. This paper proposes to model the choice between these two lotteries using quantile maximization as opposed to expected utility theory. The paper posits that risk-averse individuals aim at minimizing losses by choosing the lottery with the best outcome at the lower end of the distribution, whereas risk-tolerant individuals aim at maximizing gains by choosing the lottery with the best outcome at the higher end of the distribution. Using a rich set of household and conflict panel data from Nigeria, the paper finds that risk-tolerant individuals have a significant preference for staying and risk-averse individuals have a significant preference for fleeing, in line with the predictions of the quantile maximization model. These findings are contrary to findings on economic migrants, and call for separate policies toward economic and forced migrants.

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Press Release
New Study Focuses on Risk Aversion to Understand Why Some People Flee Conflict, While Others Don’t
Date: August 13, 2018
Despite growing numbers of people that are forcibly displaced due to conflict, the reality is that many do not flee and continue to live under difficult circumstances. To understand how people make this choice, a new World Bank working paper, “Risk Preferences and the Decision to Flee Conflict,” examines the role of risk aversion and concludes that the risk-averse are the ones who prefer to flee, while the risk-tolerant stay in their own countries.

If confirmed more broadly, these findings contrast sharply with economic migrants, who are known to be risk takers seeking economic opportunities, underscoring the need to distinguish between these two groups with an appropriate policy response for each.

According to the paper, people living under conflict are faced with two choices or lotteries ¬– staying or leaving – characterized by two distributions of potential outcomes. Using a Quantile Maximization (QM) model and risk aversion, it posits that risk-averse individuals aim to minimize losses by choosing the lottery with the best outcome at the lower end of the distribution, whereas risk-tolerant individuals aim to maximize gains by choosing the lottery with the best outcome at the higher end of the distribution.

A four-step approach was used to test the model with household and conflict panel data collected from Nigeria for the period 2010-2016, which coincides with the Boko Haram conflict:
Estimation of the distributions of outcomes (lotteries) for people living under conflict who decide to stay or leave.
Predictions of migration choices for people with different risk preferences based on the QM model.
Test whether the QM predictions match observed risk preferences among stayers and leavers.
Test for any confounding factors.
It found that risk-tolerant individuals preferred to stay, while risk averse individuals chose to flee, in line with its prediction.

While these are early results in an area that has received very little attention in the past, derived from a country case study, it calls attention to the difference between previous findings on economic migrants and risk preferences. Economic migrants tend to be risk-takers and move with the expectation that it would lead to an overall better quality of life.

On the other hand, the forcibly displaced are more risk-averse. They move to protect their lives and minimum living standards. Evidence has shown that economic migrants move with the intention of finding opportunities for growth far away from their home countries, while forcibly displaced persons want to settle close to the place of origin with the expectation of returning home.

These results need to be validated with further work in Nigeria and elsewhere, but if confirmed more broadly, this means that combining the two groups is not beneficial for the place of origin nor the place of destination. Separate policies by host governments should be considered for economic migrants and forcibly displaced persons.

This work is part of the program “Building the Evidence on Protracted Forced Displacement: A Multi-Stakeholder Partnership.” funded by UK aid from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Governance – Census/Citizenship

Packard Foundation Joins Over 300 U.S. Philanthropic Leaders to Call for Removal of Citizenship Question from 2020 Census [U.S.]
Packard Foundation Joins Over 300 U.S. Philanthropic Leaders to Call for Removal of Citizenship Question from 2020 Census

August 16, 2018 (Los Altos, CA) —The Packard Foundation joined 303 other philanthropic leaders calling on the U.S. Department of Commerce to withdraw a citizenship question from the 2020 census, reflecting an unprecedented consensus in philanthropy from local foundations to national grantmaking organizations.

In a public comment letter submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department ahead of an August 7 deadline, the large collection of foundation presidents and chief executives, trustees and others speaking for their organizations said the question would “significantly undermine efforts to achieve a fair and accurate census in 2020.” The letter continues:

We have different funding priorities, are ideologically diverse, and do not always agree with each other. But we wholeheartedly agree that the citizenship question should not be part of the 2020 Census.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations, 2011-2015
Foundation Center and the Council on Foundations
Published 13-8-2018 :: 36 pages
The State of Global Grantmaking Giving by U.S. Foundations is the latest report in a decades-long collaboration between Foundation Center and The Council on Foundations and aims to help funders and civil society organizations better navigate the giving landscape as they work to effect change around the world. The analysis reveals that global giving by U.S. foundations increased by 29% from 2011 to 2015, reaching an all-time high of $9.3 billion in 2015. In addition to a detailed analysis of trends by issue area, geographic region, population group, and donor strategy, this analysis also relates these trends to key events and developments, including the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and the increasing legal restrictions faced by civil society in countries around the world.
PDF: http://www.issuelab.org/requester/sdgs/id/31306?_ga=2.11085044.1123716257.1534702527-887887441.1512259776

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Press Release
New Report by Council on Foundations and Foundation Center Reveals Global Giving by U.S. Foundations Increased by 29% Over Five-Year Period
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
… Key findings from this trends analysis include:
:: Just 12% of international grant dollars from U.S. foundations went directly to organizations based in the country where programs were implemented. The remaining 88% was channeled through organizations based elsewhere.
:: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation accounted for 51% of global giving by U.S. foundations from 2011 to 2015, with $6.5 billion going to Sub-Saharan Africa.
:: Sub-Saharan Africa benefited from the largest share of global grantmaking by U.S. foundations, accounting for 25% of international grant dollars from 2011 to 2015.
:: Grants focused on climate change represented just 2% of global grantmaking by U.S. foundations.
Global giving by U.S. foundations for reproductive health care increased nearly threefold in the five years after the global gag rule, a U.S. rule forbidding the use of federal money to fund organizations that provide abortions or information on them, was reversed.
:: “U.S. foundations are making a tremendous impact in communities all over the world. By tracking trends in support for global programs, we play a valuable role in supporting and strengthening the sector’s ability to continue to promote the common good globally” said Gene Cochrane, interim president and CEO of the Council on Foundations.

Indigenous Peoples

Organization of American States
Statement of the OAS Secretary General on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
August 9. 2018
The indigenous population of the world is approximately 370 million people, who live in more than 70 countries, according to estimates of international organizations. Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, but unfortunately many of them have little to celebrate. Despite the fact they represent 5 percent of the world´s population, indigenous peoples make up 15 percent of the poorest people in the world and continue to be one of the most vulnerable groups. This situation of vulnerability is closely linked to colonization, racism, discrimination and the historic denial of their individual and collective rights.

ECLAC states that in Latin America there are 826 indigenous peoples, with a population nearing 45 million people, in addition to the 10 million that live in the United States and Canada, according to official data. These peoples are characterized by their broad demographic, social, territorial and political diversity, and include peoples living in voluntary isolation to those present in large urban settlements.

In the framework of the OAS we have advanced in the protection and recognition of the rights of these peoples. In 2016, after 17 years of negotiation with the active participation of the representatives of the indigenous peoples, the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted, the principal instrument for the promotion of the rights of the indigenous peoples in the Americas. The Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, adopted in 2013, is another important juridical tool to prevent, punish and eliminate racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples.

Additionally, in February 2018, the OAS Permanent Council resolved that each year the Inter-American Week for Indigenous Peoples would be held in the second week of August. We are celebrating the first edition this week.

However, there is still much to be done, especially to facilitate indigenous peoples’ real and effective access to these rights. As with all members of our societies, with the inclusion of indigenous peoples we all win, our democracy wins, our ethnic-cultural diversity benefits, and our environment wins. Their inclusion makes us better societies. I invite you to join us to work for more rights for more indigenous people in the Americas.

Featured Journal Content

Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Volume 96, Number 8, August 2018, 513-588
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/96/8/en/
RESEARCH
A post-conflict vaccination campaign, Central African Republic
– Nicolas Peyraud, Michel Quéré, Geraldine Duc, Corinne Chèvre, Theo Wanteu, Souheil Reache, Thierry Dumont, Robin Nesbitt, Ellen Dahl, Etienne Gignoux, Manuel Albela, Anna Righetti, Marie-Claude Bottineau, Jean-Clément Cabrol, Micaela Sarafini, Samuel Nzalapan, Pauline Lechevalier, Clotilde Rambaud & Monica Rull
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.17.204321
Abstract
Objective
To rapidly increase childhood immunization through a preventive, multi-antigen, vaccination campaign in Mambéré-Kadéï prefecture, Central African Republic, where a conflict from 2012 to 2015 reduced vaccination coverage.
Methods
The three-round campaign took place between December 2015 and June 2016 using: (i) oral poliomyelitis vaccine (OPV); (ii) combined diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) and hepatitis B (DTP–Hib–hepatitis B) vaccine; (iii) pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV); (iv) measles vaccine; and (v) yellow fever vaccine. Administrative data were collected on vaccines administered by age group and vaccination coverage surveys were carried out before and after the campaign.
Findings
Overall, 294,054 vaccine doses were administered. Vaccination coverage for children aged 6 weeks to 59 months increased to over 85% for the first doses of OPV, DTP–Hib–hepatitis B vaccine and PCV and, in children aged 9 weeks to 59 months, to over 70% for the first measles vaccine dose. In children aged 6 weeks to 23 months, coverage of the second doses of OPV, DTP–Hib–hepatitis B vaccine and PCV was over 58% and coverage of the third doses of OPV and DTP–Hib–hepatitis B vaccine was over 20%. Moreover, 61% (5804/9589) of children aged 12 to 23 months had received two PCV doses and 90% (25933/28764) aged 24 to 59 months had received one dose.
Conclusion
A preventive, multi-antigen, vaccination campaign was effective in rapidly increasing immunization coverage in a post-conflict setting. To sustain high coverage, routine immunization must be reinforced.

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 14 August 2018 [GPEI]
:: Take a look at how the Papua New Guinea Government, the World Health Organization, and partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are responding to the country’s recent outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.

Summary of new viruses this week:
Afghanistan – one new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and one new WPV1 positive environmental sample.
Pakistan – four new WPV1 positive environmental samples.
Nigeria – one new case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).
Papua New Guinea – one new case of cVDPV1
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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 18 Aug 2018]
Iraq  
: Special health situation report from Mosulpdf, 543kb  27 July 2017
…WHO organized a 5-day polio data quality self-assessment training workshop in Erbil to support the five directorates of health of Erbil, Suleimaniya, Duhok, Kirkuk and Ninewa in the area of quality data collection and analysis…
Nigeria 
:: Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 – Nigeria
Disease outbreak news   8 August 2018
On 5 June 2018, a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak was confirmed in Sokoto State, Nigeria. From 30 January through 23 May 2018, ten environmental samples collected from two collection sites all tested positive for genetically-related VDPV2 viruses. No associated cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) have been detected with this cVDPV2.
Nigeria is also affected by an ongoing separate cVDPV2 outbreak. A cluster of cVDPV2 was detected in Yobe State from a stool sample from an AFP case with onset on 16 June 2018, and an environmental sample collected on 31 May 2018. The same cVDPV2 was detected in Gombe State from an environmental sample collected on 9 April 2018. Previously, the same cVDPV2 was detected in Jigawa State from an AFP case with onset of paralysis on 15 April 2018 and six environmental samples collected from 10 January through 2 May 2018…
 
South Sudan  – No new announcements identified
The Syrian Arab Republic – No new announcements identified
Yemen  – No new announcements identified
 
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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 18 Aug 2018]
[Several emergency pages were not available at inquiry]
Cameroon  – No new announcements identified
Central African Republic  – No new announcements identified.
Democratic Republic of the Congo  – No new announcements identified
Ethiopia  – No new announcements identified.
Libya – No new announcements identified.
Myanmar  – No new announcements identified
Niger  – No new announcements identified.
Ukraine – No new announcements identified.

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Yemen
:: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 30 July – 9 August 2018 | Issue 23
Published on 09 Aug 2018

Syrian Arab Republic   – No new announcements identified.
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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
Ethiopia 
:: Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 61 | 30 July-12 August 2018  Published on 12 Aug 2018
Government continues peace and reconciliation process to return IDPs in Gedeo and Guji zones

Somalia   – No new announcements identified.
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