Worldwide displacement tops 70 million, UN Refugee Chief urges greater solidarity in response
19 June 2019
The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million in 2018. This is the highest level that UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has seen in its almost 70 years.

Data from UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released today, shows that almost 70.8 million people are now forcibly displaced. To put this in perspective, this is double the level of 20 years ago, 2.3 million more than a year ago, and corresponds to a population between that of Thailand and Turkey.

The figure of 70.8 million is conservative, in particular as the crisis in Venezuela is still only partly reflected in this number. In all, some 4 million Venezuelans, according to data from governments receiving them, have left their country, making this among the world’s biggest recent displacement crises. Although the majority need international refugee protection, as of today only around half a million have taken the step of formally applying for asylum.

“What we are seeing in these figures is further confirmation of a longer-term rising trend in the number of people needing safety from war, conflict and persecution. While language around refugees and migrants is often divisive, we are also witnessing an outpouring of generosity and solidarity, especially by communities who are themselves hosting large numbers of refugees. We are also seeing unprecedented engagement by new actors including development actors, private businesses, and individuals, which not only reflects but also delivers the spirit of the Global Compact on Refugees,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugee Filippo Grandi. “We must build on these positive examples and redouble our solidarity with the many thousands of innocent people who are forced to flee their homes each day.”

Within the 70.8 million figure in the Global Trends report are three main groups.

The first is refugees, meaning people forced to flee their country because of conflict, war or persecution. In 2018, the number of refugees reached 25.9 million worldwide, 500,000 more than in 2017. Included in this total are 5.5 million Palestine refugees who are under the care of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The second group is asylum seekers – people outside their country of origin and receiving international protection, but awaiting the outcome of their claim to refugee status. At the end of 2018 there were 3.5 million asylum seekers globally.

The third and biggest group, at 41.3 million, is people displaced to other areas within their own country, a category commonly referred to as Internally Displaced People or IDPs…

Featured Journal Content

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Articles in Press
Stigma and acceptance of Sierra Leone’s child soldiers: a prospective longitudinal study of adult mental health and social functioning. 2019.
Betancourt TS, et al.

NIH Press Release Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Family, community bonds help decrease mental health problems of former child soldiers
NIH-funded study documents transition to adulthood of Sierra Leone’s child soldiers.

Acceptance and support from communities and families appear to lessen the toll of mental health conditions experienced by former child soldiers transitioning to early adulthood, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The study appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

When civil war broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991, several warring factions abducted children and forced their involvement in armed groups. An estimated 15,000 to 22,000 boys and girls of all ages were subject to repeat sexual violence, forced use of alcohol and drugs, hard physical labor, and acts of violence until the war ended in 2002.

“Sierra Leone’s child soldiers experienced violence and loss on a scale that’s hard to comprehend,” said study author Stephen Gilman, Sc.D., chief of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Branch at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). “Our study provides evidence that there may be steps we can take to modify the post-war environment to alleviate mental health problems arising from these experiences.”

The study’s first author, Theresa S. Betancourt, Sc.D., of the Boston College School of Social Work in Chestnut Hill, was funded by NICHD’s Child Development and Behavior Branch.

According to the study authors, former child soldiers may face rejection from family and their communities, along with physical injuries and psychological trauma. Previous studies have found former child soldiers have high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

To conduct the study, researchers analyzed data from the Longitudinal Study of War-Affected Youth, a 15-year study of more than 500 former child soldiers who participated in Sierra Leone’s Civil War. Participants were interviewed four times (in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2016 to 2017) about their involvement with armed groups, exposure to violence in the war, and about their family and community relationships after the war. Interviewers also asked participants a series of questions to gauge their mental health status and their psychological adjustment at multiple time points.

From the data, researchers were able to group the participants into three developmental trajectories:
:: A socially protected group, encompassing 66% of the study participants whose members were not heavily stigmatized for their war involvement and had high levels of acceptance from their families and communities. Members of this group also had lower levels of exposure to adverse war events.

:: An improving social integration group that was initially highly stigmatized and had low community and family acceptance when the study began in 2002, but showed a large decrease in stigma and increase in acceptance by 2004, with slight increases in stigma and acceptance after that. This group had a high level of exposure to war events, was more likely to have been female, and more likely to have been raped.

:: A socially vulnerable group that was highly stigmatized and had low family and community acceptance in 2002 and only marginal improvements in stigma and acceptance. Compared to the other groups, members of this group were more likely to be male, to have been in fighting forces for longer, and more likely to have injured or killed during the war.

:: Members of the socially vulnerable group were about twice as likely as those in the socially protected group to experience high levels of anxiety and depression. They were three times more likely to have attempted suicide and over four times more likely to have been in trouble with the police. Those in the improving social integration group had violence exposure similar to that of the socially vulnerable group but were not significantly more likely than the socially protected group to experience any negative outcomes, apart from a slightly higher level of trouble with police.

The authors concluded that efforts to increase social and family acceptance while reducing stigma remain important components of interventions to help former child soldiers adapt to post-conflict life. They added that, in addition to understanding the mental health conditions that may afflict former child soldiers, it is important to monitor their family and community relationships after the war.

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD conducts and supports research in the United States and throughout the world on fetal, infant and child development; maternal, child and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit https://www.nichd.nih.gov.

World survey reveals people trust experts but want to know more about science
The world’s biggest survey into public attitudes to health and science publishes today, revealing high overall global trust in doctors, nurses and scientists, and high confidence in vaccines.
News | 19 June 2019
Wellcome Global Monitor also shows, however, that half of the world’s population say they know little – if anything – about science. And almost one in five feel excluded from the benefits of science.

The survey asks more than 140,000 people, aged 15 and older, in over 140 countries, how they think and feel about health and science.

It is the first global survey of its kind and highlights questions that need to be answered to ensure science and health research benefits everyone equally, wherever they are in the world. It also reveals attitudes about science that are important to improving global health, including a complex picture of confidence in vaccines in high-income countries.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, which commissioned and funded the report, says: “Wellcome Global Monitor presents an unprecedented view of the relationship between science and society worldwide. No matter how great your idea, how exciting your new treatment, or how robust your science, it must be accepted by the people who stand to benefit from it. Vaccines, for example, are one of our most powerful public health tools, and we need people to have confidence in them if they are to be most effective.”…

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 19 June 2019
:: In Angola, a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been confirmed.  See ‘Central Africa’ section below for more information.
:: In the Horn of Africa, a cVDPV2 case has been detected in Somali province, Ethiopia, linked to the ongoing cVDPV2 outbreak affecting the region (notably Somalia).  Since detection of the cVDPVs in the Horn of Africa in 2018, Ethiopia had declared these outbreaks – together with the Ministries of Health of Kenya and Somalia – to be a regional public health emergency and has been participating in regional outbreak response.
:: In Papua New Guinea, more than one million children are to be vaccinated against measles-rubella and polio.  More.  To mark the launch of the campaign, the Honorable Prime Minister James Marape personally administered polio vaccine at a launch ceremony.  More.

Summary of new viruses this week:
:: Pakistan – two WPV1 cases and one WPV1-positive environmental sample;
:: Nigeria – five circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) positive environmental samples;
:: Ethiopia – one cVDPV2 case;
:: Somalia – one cVDPV2 isolated from a healthy community contact; and,
:: Iran – one WPV1-positive environmental sample.

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Editor’s Note:
WHO has posted a refreshed emergencies page which presents an updated listing of Grade 3,2,1 emergencies as below.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 22 Jun 2019]

Democratic Republic of the Congo
:: WHO flags critical funding gap, calls for political parties to join fight against Ebola 19 June 2019
:: 46: Situation report on the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu 18 June 2019
:: Disease Outbreak News (DONs) Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo
20 June 2019
[See DRC Ebola above for detail]

Mozambique floods
:: Second round of cholera vaccination launches in Cabo Delgado 17 June 2019

Syrian Arab Republic
:: Turkish and Syrian health workers stand together to deliver health services for refugees
19 June 2019

Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

Editor’s Note:
The Bangladesh – Rohingya crisis is now listed as a Grade 2 emergency below.

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 22 Jun 2019]

occupied Palestinian territory
:: Powering health: WHO brings solar energy to the health sector in Gaza 17 June 2019

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Cyclone Idai – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Iraq – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi floods – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Niger – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 22 Jun 2019]

Tanzania
:: Cross border disease outbreak simulation exercise reinforces preparedness in East Africa
12 June 2019

Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – No new digest announcements identified
Indonesia – Sulawesi earthquake 2018 – No new digest announcements identified
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest 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: Flash floods Flash Update No. 2 As of 17 June 2019

Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest 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.
Editor’s Note:
Ebola in the DRC has bene added as a OCHA “Corporate Emergency” this week:
EBOLA OUTBREAK IN THE DRC
:: République démocratique du Congo Rapport de situation, 21 juin 2019

CYCLONE IDAI and Kenneth – No new digest announcements identified

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 15 June 2019

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 15 Jun 2019

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities   [see PDF]
:: 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  [see PDF]

Myanmar

UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urges financial isolation of Myanmar military
GENEVA – The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) urged the international community on Tuesday to cut off all financial and other support to Myanmar’s military, saying its commanders need to be isolated and brought before a credible court to answer charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

FFM Chairperson Marzuki Darusman said the measures were needed because Myanmar has not done enough to resolve the nation’s conflicts and protect human rights, including those of over a million ethnic Rohingya civilians who have been forced into exile.

“There has been no movement toward a resolution of the crisis,” Darusman said at the conclusion of a 10-day visit to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “The situation is at a total standstill.”
The FFM’s 444-page report, submitted to the Human Rights Council in September 2018, documented how Myanmar’s military brutally and systemically violated the human rights of ethnic minorities throughout the country. It focused on the military’s ‘clearance operations’ against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State in 2017, when security forces killed thousands of Rohingya civilians, raped and sexually abused women and girls and burned their villages in an explosion of violence that forced the exodus of more than 700,000 people in two months. Both military and civilian sides of Myanmar’s government persistently deny the facts and disclaim any responsibility for crimes under international law.

Following this violence, Myanmar authorities have leveled empty Rohingya villages with bulldozers, effectively destroying criminal evidence, while making no substantive progress in resolving the ethnic animosities that have helped fuel the crisis.

The report also condemned ethnic armed organizations for violating international humanitarian law and committing human rights abuses..

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The World Bank and Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Date: June 12, 2019 Type: Statement
The World Bank has joined the international community in condemning the deadly violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, which led to forced displacement of more than 730,000 Rohingya. Since that crisis, we have adjusted our country strategy in Myanmar with a much greater focus on social inclusion, particularly in conflict-affected areas.

We are deeply concerned about continued mobility and other restrictions in place in Rakhine State. These restrictions have a profound impact on the livelihoods of affected communities and the economic and social development of the state.

We are committed to supporting both Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and programs in Rakhine that will help all communities, including the remaining Rohingya, access essential services and economic opportunities. To this end, we are working closely with relevant UN agencies and consulting with communities in Rakhine, international NGOs, advocacy groups and our shareholders, who have encouraged us to continue to stay engaged.

To help Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh, we have made available close to half-a-billion dollars in grants that are financing operations in areas such as health, education, and water and sanitation services.

In Rakhine State, we are considering a project that would directly support communities through short-term employment and basic income-generating activities. Project activities would start in central Rakhine and move to other areas as conditions allow, in coordination with development partners. For remaining Rohingya, some of whom depend on humanitarian assistance, the project would provide a much-needed cash influx to families and help them build skills for future livelihoods.

The project would build on several UN initiatives that are working to alleviate extreme poverty in the state and would support implementation of recommendations by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that was led by the late Kofi Annan, which are universally accepted as the blueprint for resolving the crisis.

The World Bank has been engaged in Myanmar since 2012 to support the country’s fundamental economic transition. Our portfolio helps build modern institutions and systems, while expanding provision of basic services like rural electrification, basic education and primary health care in all states and regions of the country.

The World Bank’s involvement in any project depends on clear social and environmental principles which do not tolerate exclusion or discrimination, and we have made it clear to the government of Myanmar that the proposed project would need to benefit all communities in Rakhine. Requirements for unimpeded access by all communities to project-supported services and livelihood opportunities would be integral to the proposed project.

We understand that efforts to reduce poverty and promote more inclusive growth alone are not sufficient to address insecurity and discrimination in Rakhine State. They are one element of what is needed to improve the welfare of the estimated 600,000 remaining Rohingya and others living in the state, and could help begin to create the conditions for an eventual voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees.

Since the project was first proposed, we have had productive and open discussions with international and local NGOs that have raised issues of how the project would be implemented and monitored to ensure safety and inclusion. We share many of these concerns and are committed to finding ways to address them in both project design and in our dialogue with the government.

The project is in the early stages of preparation and much due diligence is yet to be completed before our Board of Executive Directors would consider it for approval. If it becomes clear that conditions in Rakhine State are such that the project cannot be effective, we will not pursue it.

We will remain closely engaged with our development partners and shareholders to find ways to help all the people of Rakhine State. The development needs in the state are acute. Its per capita GDP is 25 percent below the country average and 78 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
People in Rakhine have less access to sanitation, drinking water, and electricity than in any other state in Myanmar. We believe that inclusive development will be essential for social cohesion, and we will continue to work to help lay the groundwork for a more peaceful and prosperous future for Rakhine State and Myanmar.

Conflict – Missing Persons

Security Council Adopts First-Ever Resolution on Persons Reported Missing during Armed Conflict, as Speakers Call for Greater Political Will to Address Problem
11 June 2019
SC/13835
The Security Council adopted today its first-ever resolution dealing specifically with persons reported missing in armed conflict, with briefers and delegates — concerned that the number of such cases worldwide is showing no signs of abating — demanding greater political will to address the problem.

Unanimously adopting resolution 2474 (2019), the Council called upon parties to armed conflict to take all appropriate measures, to actively search for persons reported missing, to enable the return of their remains and to account for persons reported missing “without adverse distinction”.

Through the text, the Council also called upon parties to armed conflict to take appropriate measures to prevent persons from going missing, to pay the utmost attention to cases of children reported missing, and to register and notify the personal details of persons deprived of their liberty, including prisoners of war.

It further called upon States, in cases of persons missing resulting from armed conflict, to take measures, as appropriate, to ensure thorough, prompt, impartial and effective investigations and the prosecution of offences linked to missing persons due to armed conflict.

The resolution goes on to urge parties to armed conflict to collect, protect, and manage all relevant data and documents on missing persons; to search for, recover and identify the dead; to return remains, wherever possible, to their relatives; and to refrain from the deliberate relocation of remains from mass graves.

It goes on to urge the establishment of mechanisms, upon the outbreak of conflict, to exchange information on detainees and civilians; reiterates the Council’s support for efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in seeking access to information on persons reported missing; and calls for peace agreements to include provisions to facilitate the search for missing persons.

Briefing the Council after adoption, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that, last year alone, more than 45,000 people were registered as missing by ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency, and this figure is the tip of the iceberg. “Every time someone goes missing, families wait for answers. Ricocheting between hope and despair, they mark anniversaries, 1 year, 2 years, 10 years,” he said. The trauma of ambiguous loss is one of the deepest wounds of war, he added. ICRC is a daily witness to this suffering, with its teams frequently approached for help by mothers searching for their sons and by husbands searching for their wives.

… “There is no comprehensive figure for those missing in conflict, but we know enough that the situation is dire,” said Reena Ghelani, Director for Operations and Advocacy of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She recalled that, in Syria, more than 10,000 cases of missing persons have been opened by ICRC, which has also received 13,000 requests for support for finding missing relatives from families in Nigeria. In Myanmar, South Sudan and Yemen, meanwhile, the United Nations has reported cases of enforced disappearances, as well as missing persons. Still pending clarification are cases of missing persons in the Balkans, Lebanon, Nepal and Sri Lanka that go back years or even decades, she said, adding that international humanitarian law, as it relates to missing persons, prohibits enforced disappearance and requires parties to conflict to take all feasible measures to account for those reported missing, while also enshrining the right of families to get information about the fate of missing kin.

Describing today’s resolution is ambitious, she recommended that States and parties to conflict avail themselves of the support of ICRC and others to establish the necessary legal and policy frameworks. Strengthening the role and capacity of relevant existing national, regional and international mechanisms will be essential, she said, encouraging Member States to cooperate through networking and the exchange of experiences. Welcoming this year’s launch of the ICRC Missing Persons Project, she said the scale of the problem can and must be addressed, principally by respecting and ensuring respect for international humanitarian law…

Gender-based Violence – Humanitarian Contexts

New International Rescue Committee Report: Less than $2 of help for each woman or girl at risk of gender based violence
June 10, 2019
:: GBV services accounted for just 0.12% of the $41.5 billion allocated for humanitarian funding from 2016-2018
:: Two-thirds of GBV requests went unfunded, even while research shows that requests are far from meeting need
:: IRC calls for funding levels to be tripled and announces its new feminist approach to deliver humanitarian aid

New York, NY, June 10, 2019 — It is estimated that less than $2 in gender-based violence (GBV) services is allocated to each woman or girl at risk of GBV on average in crisis and conflict settings, according to new research by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Voice, released today. Where’s the Money? How the Humanitarian System is Failing to Fund an End of Violence Against Women and Girls found that violence against women and girls accounts for just 0.12% of all international humanitarian funding.

David Miliband, IRC President and CEO, said of the report’s findings: “Women in crisis will continue to be left behind as long as their most basic safety from sexual violence remains unaddressed. The continued lack of funding for GBV services reflects the deeply entrenched inequalities of power not just in the communities where we serve but in the humanitarian sector as well.”

…The report lays out five key recommendations: tripling funding levels, expanding GBV specialists, promoting partnerships with local women-led civil society organizations, improving the reporting and tracking of investments, and increasing transparency around donor investments.

The findings were shared by Miliband during a speech at Georgetown University today, where he argued that the violence and injustice faced by women and girls in humanitarian settings should be tackled at the source by addressing inequalities of power, which he said was the essential lesson of feminist thinking.

He said:
“The statistics show clearly that women and girls are doubly disadvantaged in humanitarian settings. Our approach should be to try and create a double dividend: tackle the symptoms of disadvantage but also address the power structures that generate them.”

“We need to engage more systematically with the questions of power that are raised by feminist thinking. The evidence before our eyes, from our staff and clients in the places where we work, is that we will not be successful in delivering for our female beneficiaries until we address the inequalities of power they face, and to do that we need to address inequalities of power within our own organization.

“Put another way, we cannot be a truly successful humanitarian organization, defined by the outcomes achieved by and for our beneficiaries, until we are a feminist organization, with equality between our staff, opportunities and barriers never defined by their gender, and understanding of inequalities of power and what needs to be done to overcome them driving our programs externally.”

…Miliband called on the humanitarian sector to:
:: Set clear targets for delivery of support to women and girls caught in crisis within the UN Sustainable Development Goals;

:: Establish minimum guarantees in the humanitarian response to every crisis, including locks on latrines, adequate lighting in refugee camps, and comprehensive GBV response programming;

:: Prioritize the voices of women beneficiaries and community leaders in humanitarian program design and assessment;

:: Establish a Gender Equality Scorecard across the entire humanitarian sector with common targets, metrics, and data.

Heritage Stewardship

UNESCO, Africa and China agree on projects to safeguard World Heritage in Africa
14 June 2019
The UNESCO-Africa-China Forum on World Heritage Capacity Building and Cooperation, held at UNESCO Headquarters from 3 – 4 June 2019, concluded with Recommendations and an Action Plan for joint projects supporting long-term capacity building for the safeguarding of African World Heritage properties. It was attended by ministers, decision-makers, World Heritage site managers, academics and experts from Africa and China as well as the Vice-President of the African Development Bank, among others.

The Recommendations call for greater cooperation between African and Chinese universities in the field of heritage, developing joint research on conservation, and promoting skills exchanges in thematic areas linked to sustainable development, urbanization, and traditional management systems of World Heritage sites in Africa and China. Sustainable development, through a balanced approach to conservation and benefits to local communities at World Heritage sites, was also stressed.

UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mr Ernesto Ottone R., said that “safeguarding cultural and natural heritage in both Africa and China will require the mutual sharing of experiences on traditional management systems, site planning, conservation, community engagement, and infrastructure development.”…

Ninety-five African sites from 35 States Parties are inscribed on the World Heritage List, fewer than 9% of all the inscribed properties. Yet, African sites account for one third of the List of World Heritage in Danger. China alone has 53 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, none on the List of World Heritage in Danger. African and Chinese properties are sanctuaries for most of the world’s biodiversity.

More information about the Forum is available here.

Governance – Electoral Systems International Standards

Improving electoral systems with new international quality management guidance
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Clare Naden on 11 June 2019

Free and fair elections thanks to well defined and managed electoral services are at the heart of a democratic political system, and casting a vote is a basic political right. Having robust systems in place is essential for this to run smoothly. Newly revised international guidance for electoral organizations will help them do just that, by applying the principles of ISO’s most widely known standard for quality, ISO 9001.

The technical specification ISO/TS 54001, Quality management systems – Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2015 for electoral organizations at all levels of government creates the framework for a quality management system that helps electoral bodies provide more reliable and transparent electoral services. It is based on ISO 9001 Quality management systems with specific sector requirements. It has been recently updated to reflect updates to ISO 9001 to keep it more in line with market needs.

Katie Altoft, chair of the ISO technical committee responsible for its development said it is an important tool for electoral organizations because it helps to build confidence in elections through enabling transparency, effective planning and management, and efficiency in electoral processes.

“Every electoral body will have its own legal framework based on international and national law, so this is not intended to replace it,” she said.

“However, by outlining international best practice when it comes to the quality management of an election and an electoral organization, it enables them to improve their processes to strengthen citizen confidence, reduce risks and continually improve.”

One of the key organizations behind the proposal for the TS was the Organization of American States (OAS), whose purpose includes promoting peace and democracy.

Maria Mellenkamp, convenor of the committee’s working group that developed the document and a representative of the OAS added: “ISO/TS 54001 is a great tool to help guide electoral management bodies to efficiently plan electoral processes and help to ensure objectivity in the results.”

It covers all aspects of a successful election such as registration of candidates and voters, vote casting and counting, declaration of results and resolution of electoral disputes. ISO/TS 54001 was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176 Quality management and quality assurance.

IMF – “Social Spending”

Forging a Stronger Social Contract—the IMF’s Approach to Social Spending
By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Geneva, June 14, 2019
…The IMF’s Strategy on Social Spending
…Let me now address the IMF’s new strategy on engaging in social spending issues, which is being published today.

As social spending issues have become increasingly important for our members over the past decade, we have significantly stepped up our engagement on inclusive growth and social spending.

For instance, our analysis has found that high inequality can undermine sustained growth. Research has also found that public investment in health and education boosts productivity and growth, and reduces inequality of opportunity and income. Likewise, social spending programs that redistribute from higher-income to lower-income groups can decrease poverty and inequality. They can also increase the resilience of lower-income households to economic shocks—including from demographics, technology and climate—which are expected to become more frequent and disruptive.

At the country level, we found that four out of five IMF mission chiefs—the people who lead our engagement on the ground—view social spending as “macro-critical” in their countries. This is important, because macro-criticality is the quintessential trigger for IMF engagement on all structural issues. And nearly half view social spending as essential to socio-political stability and investing in people.

For all these reasons, we have stepped up our engagement on social spending at the country level. For example, we helped Ghana create the fiscal space to increase spending on public education—so that it can achieve its goal of universal secondary education. We helped Japan develop options for pension reform, so necessary in an aging society. In Cyprus, we helped the government strengthen the social safety net during a time of severe crisis—including with the introduction of a new guaranteed minimum income program. Likewise, in Jamaica we supported the expansion of social assistance programs during a period of belt tightening.

In all of our programs, protecting the poor and vulnerable is now, and will continue to be, a core objective.

At the same time, we are providing technical assistance to countries to help them raise more domestic revenue—support in this area nearly doubled between 2010 and 2018. And we estimated the additional spending needed to finance core SDGs—health, education, and priority infrastructure. We found that this requires an extra 15 percentage points of GDP on average for low-income developing countries in 2030.

It is clear, then, that social spending is not just an expense, but rather the wisest of investments in the well-being of our societies. Expansion of access to education and health generates broader productivity gains across the population, allowing all citizens to flourish. To reap the rewards of a stronger global economy tomorrow, we must begin by strengthening social programs today.

But at the same time, we cannot play the role of Pangloss. In the real world, the best of intentions run up against the firmest budget constraints.

So how do we move forward? We must start from the premise that social spending needs to be adequate, yet also efficient and financed sustainably. Spending adequacy. Spending efficiency. Fiscal sustainability. These are the yardsticks we will use to assess the “macro-criticality” of social spending.

We expect this new strategy to lead to more effective IMF engagement on social spending issues, and to strengthen the quality and consistency of our policy advice. It collects best practices gleaned from years of engagement on social spending issues and lays out a clear road map for consistently applying these best practices to our engagement.

Over the next year and a half, we will flesh out the strategy by providing more specific guidance to our staff underpinned by augmented tools and databases; ongoing analytical work; and background notes on issues such as pensions, social assistance, education, and health.

Our strategy should ensure that our engagement is more consistent and hopefully more effective—and also better tailored to our members’ specific preferences and circumstances…

Oxfam – U.K. Charity Commission Report

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Oxfam welcomes Independent Commission’s Recommendations and commits to deepen culture change and safeguarding improvements
12 June 2019
Oxfam welcomes the final report of the Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change.

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Statement on UK Charity Commission judgement by Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International
11 June 2019
Oxfam Great Britain has today welcomed and accepted the UK Charity Commission’s judgement following its investigation into serious sexual misconduct by members of Oxfam GB staff in Haiti in 2011. Oxfam GB has apologized for its failings in its investigation and case management at the time and, as Executive Director of Oxfam International, I underline Oxfam GB’s apologies and reaffirm our organization’s abhorrence for, and zero-tolerance of, abusive behaviour, sexual or otherwise. It is a violation of everything Oxfam stands for. I would like to restate our confederation’s collective commitment to keep working hard to transform our work-place culture and improve our safeguarding systems. While this was the UK charity regulator’s report into Oxfam’s Great Britain affiliate, it is clear we can only challenge these abuses if we do it together as an international confederation…

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Charity Commission reports on inquiry into Oxfam GB: “No charity is more important than the people it serves or the mission it pursues”
Regulator finds culture of “tolerating poor behaviour” at Oxfam GB and concludes charity “failed to meet promises made”
11 June 2019 — Press release
Charity Commission publishes critical report on Oxfam GB, finding that aspects of the charity’s past record on safeguarding amount to mismanagement, and takes regulatory action.

Charities are being warned that no charity is more important than the people it serves or the mission it pursues, and that all are judged on their actions, not their words.

It comes as the regulator publishes a critical report on Oxfam GB, and finds that the charity repeatedly fell below standards expected, had a culture of tolerating poor behaviour, and concludes that it failed to meet promises made on safeguarding, ultimately letting everyone down.

The inquiry finds the charity failed to heed warnings, including from its own staff, that its culture and response around keeping people safe was inadequate, and made commitments to safeguarding that were not matched by its actions.

The report, which takes into account over 7,000 items of evidence, examines the charity’s handling of events in Haiti, and separately its more recent record on protecting people, including its beneficiaries, volunteers and staff, from harm.

It concludes that some of the charity’s failings and shortcomings amount to mismanagement, and the Commission has used its powers to issue Oxfam GB with an Official Warning, and Directions under Section 84 of the Charities Act 2011.

“Missed opportunities and a flawed response” – Oxfam GB and Haiti 2011
The regulator finds that the then executive of Oxfam GB mishandled aspects of its response to allegations of misconduct in Haiti in 2011.

Overall, the Commission concludes that there had been a “culture of poor behaviour” and poor accountability among staff in Haiti at the time, of which individuals took advantage.

The Commission also finds that the charity’s reports to donors and the Commission itself were “not as full and frank about the nature and seriousness of the incidents and problems in Haiti as they should have been”. The inquiry’s view is that Oxfam GB’s approach to disclosure and reporting was marked, at times, by a desire to protect the charity’s reputation and donor relationships.

Specifically, the inquiry found that the charity:
:: did not adequately follow-up whether victims of sexual misconduct in Haiti were minors
: did not report allegations of child abuse by Oxfam GB staff in Haiti, failing to take the risks to alleged victims seriously enough
:: dealt with staff members implicated in sexual misconduct in Haiti inconsistently, notably by appearing to treat senior staff more leniently than junior staff
:: missed opportunities to identify and tackle early warnings before the events in Haiti in 2011

“Repeatedly failed to meet promises made”– Oxfam GB’s wider record on safeguarding
The inquiry also examined Oxfam GB’s wider approach to safeguarding, historically, and more recently, and concluded that the charity’s own commitments and promises in the past were not always matched by its actions.

It says this results from its leadership, up to 2018, applying insufficient resources to keeping people safe from harm, and concludes that this and other systemic weaknesses amount to mismanagement in the administration of charity.

The inquiry also finds the charity missed opportunities to address issues raised by its own safeguarding staff, and exposed the charity to undue risk.

Specifically, the inquiry finds that:
:: resourcing and capability around safeguarding at the charity between 2015 to 2017 did not match the risks associated with the charity’s global reach and the nature of its work
:: the charity’s approach to safeguarding case work was at times unstructured and a lack of adequate assurance and oversight mechanisms meant trustees were unable to identify serious failures in case handling, including poor record keeping, failings of which the inquiry is “extremely critical”
:: weaknesses in the charity’s HR practices prior to 2018, particularly concerning problems around vetting and referencing and management oversight, led to a ‘culture of tolerance of poor behaviour’
:: as late as 2017, promises that the resources for safeguarding would be increased were not delivered…

…In a foreword to the report, Baroness Stowell, Chair of the Charity Commission, says no charity is more important that the mission it pursues or the people it serves:
:: No charity is so large, nor is its mission so important that it can afford to put its own reputation ahead of the dignity and wellbeing of those it exists to protect. But the implications of this inquiry are not confined to the failings of a single, big charity, because no charity is too small to bear its own share of responsibility for upholding the wider good name of charity.
:: Ultimately being a charity is more than just about what you do, it is also about the way in which you do it. The Charity Commission is determined to reassure the public that it understands this fundamental point and will work with the sector it regulates to demonstrate that fact in the months and years ahead.”

DRC – Ebola/Cholera/Measles

Statement on the meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee for Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
14 June 2019
[Excerpts]
… The cluster of cases in Uganda is not unexpected; the rapid response and initial containment is a testament to the importance of preparedness in neighbouring countries. The Committee commends the communication and collaboration between DRC and Uganda…
…Conclusions and Advice
It was the view of the Committee that the outbreak is a health emergency in DRC and the region but does not meet all the three criteria for a PHEIC [Public Health Emergency of International Concern] under the IHR. While the outbreak is an extraordinary event, with risk of international spread, the ongoing response would not be enhanced by formal Temporary Recommendations under the IHR (2005)…

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Regular Weekly Update not published.

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Editor’s Note:
WHO has posted a refreshed emergencies page which presents an updated listing of Grade 3,2,1 emergencies as below.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 15 Jun 2019]

Democratic Republic of the Congo
:: 45: Situation report on the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu 12 June 2019
:: Disease Outbreak News (DONs) Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo 13 June 2019
[See Ebola DRC above for detail]

Bangladesh – Rohingya crisis – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 15 Jun 2019]

Central African Republic
:: The Central African Republic prepares for Ebola response
12 June 2018 – Bangui “The Central African Republic has made a good start in preparing for a possible Ebola outbreak,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), at the end of a short visit to the country. “But we must remain vigilant, and consolidate the work started.”…

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Cyclone Idai – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Iraq – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi floods – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Niger – No new digest announcements identified
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 15 Jun 2019]

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – No new digest announcements identified
Indonesia – Sulawesi earthquake 2018 – No new digest announcements identified
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified
Tanzania – No new digest 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. 
Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syria: Situation Report 5: Recent Developments in Northwestern Syria (as of 14 June 2019)
HIGHLIGHTS
:: Violence in northwest Syria continued over the last ten days throughout Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
Airstrikes and shelling in southern Idleb, northern Hama and western Aleppo governorates is putting civilians at risk and impeding the delivery of assistance.
:: Humanitarian response is ongoing with hundreds of thousands of people receiving critical assistance essential for their survival. Violence in areas directly affected by conflict is driving displacement into densely-populated areas, putting a strain on service delivery for partners.
:: A further escalation of violence, triggering waves of displacement and complicating humanitarian access and provision of humanitarian assistance risks overwhelming an already stretched response.

Yemen
:: Yemen: Flash floods Flash Update No. 1 As of 11 June 2019

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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.
CYCLONE IDAI and Kenneth
:: Mozambique: “Three months on, the world’s attention has moved on. We cannot let this happen” 14 Jun 2019

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 8 June 2019

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 8 Jun 2019

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities   [see PDF]
:: 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  [see PDF]

Humanitarian Response

U.S. Charities Launch Global Emergency Response Coalition to Expedite Action During Humanitarian Crisis
June 5, 2019
Coalition appoints new Managing Director to lead efforts

Washington, DC – June 5, 2019 – Eight of the leading U.S.-based international relief organizations have renewed their commitment to the Global Emergency Response Coalition. Originally created in April 2017 to broaden awareness and take urgent action when disasters occur, the Coalition is made up of field-based, well respected and vetted organizations that are combining their capabilities and technical capacities in a joint effort. The Coalition will harness the fundraising power of the United States to save lives by inspiring donors and quickly getting them involved at the onset of disasters.

“Too often children and families around the world in dire need of help go unnoticed due to lack of public awareness,” said the CEOs of the Global Emergency Response Coalition member NGOs. “We have come together to use our collective energies, increase the U.S. public’s attention to global disaster, and leverage the massive influence and generosity that Americans can bring toward creating global action.”

The Coalition, composed of CARE, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Oxfam America, Plan International USA, Save the Children and World Vision, originally came together with a goal of bringing attention to and increasing funding for the East Africa Hunger Crisis, expediting and amplifying lifesaving aid to reach the 20 million people who were at risk of starvation at the time. Up until that point, despite the large number of people in need, the crisis had received little attention.

Today, the need for urgent aid continues to expand. An increase in natural disasters, conflict-related refugees, and food insecurity worldwide are all contributing to a humanitarian system that is dangerously underfunded. UN OCHA estimates that one out of every 70 people around the world is in need of humanitarian assistance. And the need surrounding disasters is lasting longer – now an average of nine years.

The Coalition recently appointed Gwen Young as its Managing Director to lead this expanded effort. Young has more than 25 years of experience in international relief and development, including most recently as the Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Wilson Center. She previously served at Africare, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Médecins Sans Frontières. She began her new role March 1st.

“The worsening nature and duration of humanitarian crisis is sadly the new normal,” said Young. “It requires that we, as key humanitarian actors, combine our efforts to ensure that people and communities get the lifesaving assistance they need.”

Visit the Global Emergency Response Coalition website for more information and to donate.

CEOs of the Global Emergency Response Coalition:
Michelle Nunn, CARE
Nancy Aossey, International Medical Corps
David Miliband, International Rescue Committee
Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps
Abby Maxman, Oxfam America
Tessie San Martin, Plan International USA
Carolyn Miles, Save the Children
Edgar Sandoval, World Vision

About the Global Emergency Response Coalition:
The Global Emergency Response Coalition is a lifesaving humanitarian alliance made up of eight leading U.S.-based international aid organizations. When disaster strikes, the Coalition mobilizes to help children and families in urgent need. By working together, we can increase awareness and funds to deliver emergency relief quickly and efficiently to save lives and help rebuild communities

Humanitarian Response

Cameroon tops list of most neglected crises
Norwegian Refugee Council Published 04. Jun 2019
Cameroon tops the Norwegian Refugee Council’s annual list of the world’s most neglected displacement crises launched today.

…The annual list of neglected displacement crises is based on three criteria: lack of funding, lack of media attention and political neglect. Cameroon scored high on all three, followed closely by DR Congo and Central African Republic, two other crises where a lack of public attention has contributed to a lack of funding for humanitarian relief.

“Humanitarian assistance should be given based on needs, and needs alone. However, every day millions of displaced people are neglected because they have been struck by the wrong crisis and the dollars have dried up,” Egeland said.

The majority of the countries on the list are found on the African continent. The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling for increased attention to the crises on the list to prevent the suffering of millions of vulnerable people.

“This depressing list must serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Only by drawing attention to these crises, learning about them and placing them high on the international agenda, can we achieve much needed change,” Egeland said.

This year’s neglected crises list. These are the world’s ten most neglected displacement crises in 2018:
Cameroon
DR Congo
Central African Republic
Burundi
Ukraine
Venezuela
Mali
Libya
Ethiopia
Palestine

Displacement crises resulting in more than 200,000 people displaced have been analysed – 36 crises in total.

Press Freedom – Global Assessment

Freedom and the Media: A Downward Spiral
Freedom House, June 2019
By Sarah Repucci, Senior Director for Research and Analysis
Key Findings
:: Freedom of the media has been deteriorating around the world over the past decade.

:: In some of the most influential democracies in the world, populist leaders have overseen concerted attempts to throttle the independence of the media sector.

:: While the threats to global media freedom are real and concerning in their own right, their impact on the state of democracy is what makes them truly dangerous.

:: Experience has shown, however, that press freedom can rebound from even lengthy stints of repression when given the opportunity. The basic desire for democratic liberties, including access to honest and fact-based journalism, can never be extinguished.

Overview
The fundamental right to seek and disseminate information through an independent press is under attack, and part of the assault has come from an unexpected source. Elected leaders in many democracies, who should be press freedom’s staunchest defenders, have made explicit attempts to silence critical media voices and strengthen outlets that serve up favorable coverage. The trend is linked to a global decline in democracy itself: The erosion of press freedom is both a symptom of and a contributor to the breakdown of other democratic institutions and principles, a fact that makes it especially alarming.

According to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World data, media freedom has been deteriorating around the world over the past decade, with new forms of repression taking hold in open societies and authoritarian states alike. The trend is most acute in Europe, previously a bastion of well-established freedoms, and in Eurasia and the Middle East, where many of the world’s worst dictatorships are concentrated. If democratic powers cease to support media independence at home and impose no consequences for its restriction abroad, the free press corps could be in danger of virtual extinction.
Experience has shown, however, that press freedom can rebound from even lengthy stints of repression when given the opportunity. The basic desire for democratic liberties, including access to honest and fact-based journalism, can never be extinguished, and it is never too late to renew the demand that these rights be granted in full.

Attacks on press freedom in democracies
In some of the most influential democracies in the world, large segments of the population are no longer receiving unbiased news and information. This is not because journalists are being thrown in jail, as might occur in authoritarian settings. Instead, the media have fallen prey to more nuanced efforts to throttle their independence. Common methods include government-backed ownership changes, regulatory and financial pressure, and public denunciations of honest journalists. Governments have also offered proactive support to friendly outlets through measures such as lucrative state contracts, favorable regulatory decisions, and preferential access to state information. The goal is to make the press serve those in power rather than the public.

The problem has arisen in tandem with right-wing populism, which has undermined basic freedoms in many democratic countries. Populist leaders present themselves as the defenders of an aggrieved majority against liberal elites and ethnic minorities whose loyalties they question, and argue that the interests of the nation—as they define it—should override democratic principles like press freedom, transparency, and open debate.

Among Free countries in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report, 19 percent (16 countries) have endured a reduction in their press freedom scores over the past five years. This is consistent with a key finding of Freedom in the World—that democracies in general are undergoing a decline in political rights and civil liberties. It has become painfully apparent that a free press can never be taken for granted, even when democratic rule has been in place for decades…

…Recommendations
The following recommendations for policymakers in democratic nations will help ensure the sustainability of independent media worldwide:

:: Ensure that their actions do not excuse or inspire violations of press freedom. Democratic nations have a particularly important role to play in maintaining media freedom. Words matter, and when US officials verbally attack the press or fail to swiftly and vigorously condemn acts of repression such as Khashoggi’s murder, it sends a signal to undemocratic leaders around the world that assaults on the press and crimes against journalists are permissible.

:: Take strong and immediate action against any violations of media freedom globally through press statements, phone calls, meetings, letters, and the imposition of targeted sanctions on perpetrators. This includes speaking out against violence against journalists and authorities’ failure to identify and prosecute attackers, restrictions on media access, blocking of websites, and censorship on particular topics.

:: Stand up publicly for the value of a free press, and support civic education that will inform the next generation. Press freedom is one of the most fundamental pillars of American democracy, and constitutional protections in the United States are stronger than in any other country in the world. Citizens could easily forget this amid media mudslinging and incendiary commentary. Political leaders and teachers should reiterate the extent to which we all benefit from professional journalists who hold those in power to account.

:: Ensure that foreign policy and assistance prioritizes support for democratic principles, including media freedom, as the foundation of national security and economic prosperity. The goal of foreign assistance is to bring recipient countries to the point that they no longer need it. In that sense, it is shortsighted for donor governments to invest funding overseas without shoring up press freedom. National security and economic prosperity are strongest in nations where democratic rights are protected, and a free press is a key watchdog of democracy. Foreign aid specifically focused on bolstering independent media by providing technical training and emergency assistance is especially needed given the threats journalists currently face. Countries that have experienced recent expansions in press freedom, such as Angola, Ethiopia, Malaysia, and Ecuador, are particularly vulnerable to backsliding and require special focus.

:: Support social media as an alternative outlet for free expression in repressive environments. Innovative alternatives to state-controlled media regularly spring up on social media, including recently in Venezuela, Armenia, and Sudan. Related technology can be used to circumvent censorship and keep reporters anonymous where needed. Donor agencies should provide funding for technology that increases journalistic freedom.

Governance – Global Regulation/Risk Management in Fintech

The Next Steps for International Cooperation in Fintech
Opening Remarks by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
G20 High Level Seminar “Our Future in the Digital Age”
Fukuoka, Japan. June 8, 2019
As Prepared for Delivery
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen — good afternoon! Minasan, konnichiwa!

I would like to thank Japan’s Financial Services Agency for the opportunity to participate in this session focused on the important topic of our future in the digital age.

Opportunities and Risks in Financial Innovation
It is appropriate that we are launching our discussion in Fukuoka. Why? Because Fukuoka is Japan’s start-up city. In each of the last three years more companies have been started in Fukuoka than nearly anywhere else in Japan.

And here in Japan — and in Asia more broadly — is where both the peril and promise of fintech have revealed themselves.

It is in Asia where innovations in digital payments and verification systems first became mainstream.
But it is also in Asia where we first saw the darker side of fintech, with concerns for consumer protection and privacy concerns bubbling to the surface years ago.

Asia, like the rest of the world, is facing a defining moment: How to manage the risks of fintech without suffocating innovation; how to keep up with rapid fintech innovation, while making sure consumers and investors feel secure in their investments.

Technology always has, and always will, spur innovation in finance. The question is whether these innovations will benefit all, or only a select few. If handled correctly, fintech can cut the cost of utilizing financial tools and enable millions to fulfill their aspirations of building a better life.

That is why I believe it is our shared responsibility to create a safe, sound, sustainable and inclusive financial system, protected from criminal abuse.

The Bali Fintech Agenda
How can the IMF help with such an enormous task? Last year, at the request of our membership, the IMF and the World Bank developed the Bali Fintech Agenda. This agenda identifies twelve priorities that countries and other international organizations should focus on in the fintech space.

We then surveyed our members about these elements and 96 countries participated.

Our findings will be released in a new joint IMF-World Bank paper coming later this month and this afternoon I would like to share with you a few highlights. A sneak peak, if you will.

First, countries overwhelmingly see fintech as transformative for financial inclusion. They recognize that inclusion plays a key role in promoting growth, opening access for poor and rural communities through lower costs, and facilitating women’s participation in the formal economy.

Indeed, as IMF research shows, fintech has helped to close the inclusion gender gap in some countries, but not everywhere.

Gaps in access to technology are one explanation, but even when access is equal, there appears to be lower usage by women. For example, in Egypt, Ethiopia, and India, men are 20 percentage points more likely than women to have their own phone; in Bangladesh, men are 22 percentage points more likely than women to have a mobile money account.

Women also tend to use digital services less than men, at least in some countries, possibly due to social norms, or issues related to affordability and financial literacy. That is why we believe increasing financial literacy can play a key role in generating higher gender participation in every economy.

Second, countries are asking for greater international cooperation in fintech:
· Nearly 80% mentioned cybersecurity as their most important priority;
· Around 60% listed anti-money laundering legal and regulatory frameworks;
· Another 40% cited payment systems including across borders.

I should note that these issues are already being discussed in the various international forums in which IMF staff participates, but countries want to see swifter progress.

For example, crypto-assets have been in use for several years, but even among the countries of the G20, there is no consensus on their regulatory treatment.

The same is true about another issue discussed in our review — market concentration.

A significant disruption to the financial landscape is likely to come from the big tech firms, who will use their enormous customer bases and deep pockets to offer financial products based on big data and artificial intelligence.

These developments hold out the promise of accelerating inclusion and modernizing financial markets, but raise, in addition to privacy issues, competition and market concentration concerns, both of which could lead to vulnerabilities in the financial system.

China’s technology industry is a prime example of this trade-off between benefits and challenges. Over the last five years, technology growth in China has been extremely successful and allowed millions of new entrants to benefit from access to financial products and the creation of high-quality jobs. But it has also led to two firms controlling more than 90% of the mobile payments market.

This presents a unique systemic challenge to financial stability and efficiency, and one I hope we can touch on during the G20, and address in a cooperative and consistent fashion

Conclusion
So, let me conclude. Everyone here, and many around the world, recognize that it is critical to continue the international dialogue on fintech. It is not as easy as it seems.

Integrating different national approaches to crypto-assets, non-bank fintech intermediaries, and the governance of data is crucial if we are to harness fintech’s potential to promote greater financial inclusion and development. Yet at the same time, we have to find a way to preserve financial stability and integrity, protect consumers, and increase financial literacy.

Here, we can draw inspiration from the famous Japanese proverb: Walk across the stone bridge only after you have tested its strength.

We will cross the bridge, together, into the fintech future. But we will only do so once we are confident that bridge is safe and secure.

Events like the one organized today are a critical part of this process. I congratulate our hosts and the Government of Japan for taking on this important initiative. The IMF is proud to be your partner.
Thank you very much. Domo Arigato!

Featured Journal Content

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
http://www.plosntds.org/
(Accessed 8 Jun 2019)
Editorial
Science tikkun: A framework embracing the right of access to innovation and translational medicine on a global scale
Peter J. Hotez
| published 06 Jun 2019 PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007117

We’re entering an era when global health is being redefined because of the great progress in vaccination and mass drug administration programs on the one hand, yet on the other hand, there is a changing landscape of social determinants, including urbanization, human migrations, rising antiscience, and a paradigm shift in poverty and poverty-related neglected diseases, known as blue marble health. Science tikkun offers a framework for ensuring that the world’s poor continue to receive access to innovation and technologies in this new world order.

In the almost 2 decades since the start of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), later transitioning to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, we have seen dramatic public health gains in terms of the global reductions in the world’s poverty-related neglected diseases. Two of the most dramatic improvements have been in terms of deaths from childhood-preventable vaccines and disability from the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Regarding the former, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study reports a 40–75% reduction in deaths of children under the age of five between the years 2000 and 2015 [1], mostly due to expanded vaccine coverage and introduction of the rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines—activities led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance [2]. For NTDs, we have seen almost (but not quite) as dramatic decreases in the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from the seven major diseases targeted by “rapid impact” packages of donated medicines that have now reached more than 1 billion people [3, 4].

Although these gains are impressive, there is still a lot of global health work to be done. Indeed, many of our gains in vaccines and NTDs are under threat from a new group of social determinants and forces that could undermine or even reverse progress made since 2000. For example, because of antivaccine activities and lobbying groups that gained ascendancy more or less contemporaneously with the MDGs, we are seeing thousands of measles cases and deaths return to Europe, and now many counties in the American West have large numbers of unvaccinated children vulnerable to measles and other childhood infections [2, 5]. Children are literally dying as a consequence of an antiscience movement. In Latin America, the political instability and collapse of health systems in Venezuela has also promoted the reemergence of measles cases and deaths there and in neighboring Brazil and Colombia [6].

For NTDs, the gains achieved through integrated mass drug administration are also being undermined by Venezuela’s economic collapse [7], as well as conflict and wars in the Middle East, central Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa [8]. NTDs are also reemerging and rising as a consequence of urbanization [9], population shifts and human migrations [10], climate change [11], and other human-associated activities linked with the modern Anthropocene era [12].

The consequences of two sets of opposing forces—reductions in global disease burdens due to expanded use of vaccines and essential medicines for NTDs versus antiscience movements and Anthropocene forces—have produced an interesting quilt or patchwork of poverty-related neglected diseases. Today, some of the highest rates of these conditions likely occur among the world’s estimated 300–400 million indigenous or aboriginal populations [13]. However, on a larger scale, analyses of data from both the GBD and the World Health Organization (WHO) reveal that most of the world’s neglected diseases and NTDs are actually found among the poor living in the wealthiest economies, especially the group of 20 nations (G20) together with Nigeria, which has an economy greater than the bottom tier of G20 countries [14, 15]. The term “blue marble health” has been used to describe how the “poorest of the rich” are now uniquely vulnerable to disease [16]. NTDs are also paradoxically widespread among the poor in technologically sophisticated countries such as China, India, Iran, and Pakistan, each of these nations with capabilities to produce nuclear weapons [17]. Therefore, the world has profoundly changed in a way that suggests rapid progress in disease control, although vulnerable and impoverished populations living amid great wealth and technical sophistication have been left behind. Such populations remain under constant threat from war, urbanization, population migrations, and climate change.

There is an urgent need to repair the gaps left from these modern 21st century forces. According to some religious scholars, the ancient Jewish framework of repairing the parts of the world still left undone after the creation arose some 500 years earlier during the 16th century (Fig 1) [18]. In his Lurianic Kabbalah, the mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria wrote about reconnecting or repairing the world and cosmos through good works and great deeds [18].

In 2017, I first wrote on the concept of “science tikkun” as a means of “repair and redemption through science” [18]. My original definition focused mostly on science diplomacy and international scientific cooperation, citing the examples of joint United States–Soviet cooperation to develop and deploy vaccines for smallpox and polio for purposes of disease eradication [18–20]. Science tikkun also embraces programs of public engagement by scientists, especially US scientists interacting with the US press, military, and educational sectors [18].

The new world order of science and technology gaps engendered from the opposing forces of successes due to global vaccine and NTD programs versus opposing social determinants of shifting poverty and blue marble health, urbanization, war and conflict, and antiscience movements affords us an opportunity to expand our science tikkun definitions. Here, I redefine it as initiatives led by scientists to address the innovation gaps in global health and neglected diseases allowing illness and disease not only among the world’s vulnerable populations but especially among the huge numbers of poor living amid wealth and prosperity. A fundamental tenet of science tikkun is that vulnerable populations have a fundamental right to access innovation [21]. In this context, science tikkun can take on several different dimensions (Box 1 and Fig 2):

First, basic research on the poverty-related neglected diseases would greatly benefit by expanding its footprint into some of the latest developments in the biochemical, physical, and engineering sciences, including gene editing, functional and comparative OMICs, single-cell combinatorial indexing RNA sequencing, and systems biology and immunology, just to name a few approaches [21]. In some cases, resource-poor nations that have invested heavily in nuclear technologies, including India, Iran, and Pakistan, for example, could see important benefits by redirecting their scientific and technical prowess into basic science for the neglected diseases.

Second, science tikkun embraces translational medicine to develop new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and vector control approaches for NTDs and other poverty-related neglected diseases. Such tools are sometimes known as “antipoverty” technologies because of the poverty-promoting disabilities resulting from these diseases [22–25]. Today, the development of antipoverty technologies is being led by academic institutions and nonprofit product development partnerships, but increasingly, there are links with product manufacturers in a group of nations sometimes known as innovative developing countries [26] and some of the multinational pharmaceutical companies. In the future, the new Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) may also play an important role in antipoverty translational medicine.

Lastly, science tikkun can address the social determinants that adversely affect access to innovation for the poor, but two areas in particular that stand out are science diplomacy and combating the rise of antiscience. With regard to the former, the original description of science tikkun designated diplomacy as a central tenet, citing the successes of smallpox and polio eradication that were highlighted earlier [18–20]. However, because the rise of antivaccine and other antiscience movements now threatens the introduction of new technologies in areas where they might be the most needed [2, 25], the current and next generation of scientists embarking on innovation for the poor and vulnerable will be required to address this new threat through public engagement and other mechanisms.

Closing the access to innovation and translational medicine gaps for some of the world’s most disenfranchised peoples—aboriginal populations and the poor living amid wealth—remains one of the great science and technology challenges in this relatively new century. Science tikkun offers a potential and overarching framework for these activities.