Here are some recent
editorials I wrote for The Gulf Today. (Posted for my records):
Manchester attack
a monstrous act
The brutal attack that took place outside England’s Manchester Arena
killing and wounding several people, especially children, has again bared the
ugly face of terrorists who are filled with nothing but venom and despise for
human values.
These enemies of humanity do not represent any cause and are merely
hate-filled monsters with depraved mindsets.
Children are adored and nurtured by any society. The fact that nearly a dozen
children under the age of 16 were among those injured in the suicide bombing
exposes the senseless brutality of the terrorist involved in the attack.
Surreptitiously killing innocent people, especially kids enjoying a
music concert, is nothing but an act of cowardice. Such actions are rejected by
all religions, moral values and humanitarian norms.
The killings have also exposed
the vulnerability of public events, which means that event organisers need to
be extra vigilant in future.
The use of an explosive device marks an escalation from recent attacks
in Britain, which have used unsophisticated weapons such as knives and
vehicles, with firearms less of a threat given the country's strict laws on gun
ownership.
Witnesses at the arena have described seeing metal nuts and bolts
among the debris of bomb. It may have contained shrapnel intended to maximise
injuries and deaths. The implication is that the security may not have been as
tight as it should have been.
Monday's attack is the deadliest in Britain since four terrorists
killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London's transport system in 2005.
Terrorism can never ever wipe out the power of compassion. The loving
spirit of Manchester residents remained intact. There were many who went out of their way to help those
caught up in the incident.
Social media users began helping the desperate hunt for people missing
by circulating names and photos with the MissingInmanchester hashtag.
Some taxi drivers turned off their meters to get people away from the
spot and to safety. Many local residents opened up their homes to help those
stranded.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has
rightly called for intensified
and concerted efforts by the international community to ensure the eradication
of the serious scourge of terrorism.
Going by the magnitude of
the Manchester attack, it is clear that it was
meticulously planned and likely involves more than one individual. It is,
hence, imperative that the security agencies dig deep into the matter and
swiftly bring to justice those responsible for the heinous crime.
Keep plastics
out of oceans
The UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) has cautioned that there will be more plastic than fish in the
world’s oceans by 2050 unless people stop using single-use plastic items such
as plastic bags and plastic bottles.
That’s not all.
According to some
estimates, at the rate people are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags
and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish
and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.
The warning should be
taken seriously as the subject could have a major negative impact on every
human being.
As per UN estimates, in
1950, the world’s population of 2.5 billion produced 1.5 million tonnes of
plastic; in 2016, a global population of more than 7 billion people produced
over 300 million tonnes of plastic – with severe consequences for marine plants
and animals.
Such figures are starling
and should be seen as a wake-up call for remedial action.
It may be recalled that in
February the UN Environment organisation launched an unprecedented global
campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter: microplastics in
cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic by the year
2022.
Launched at the Economist
World Ocean Summit in Bali, the #CleanSeas campaign urges governments to pass
plastic reduction policies, target industry to minimise plastic packaging and
redesign products and calls on consumers to change their throwaway habits
before irreversible damage is done to our seas.
As part of the campaign,
Indonesia has committed to slash its marine litter by 70 per cent by 2025;
Uruguay will tax single-use plastic bags this year and Kenya has agreed to
eliminate them entirely.
Though the Clean Seas
campaign has achieved some important wins for the oceans, Petter Malvik, UN
Environment Programme’s Communications Officer, points out that the job is far
from done.
The idea is to achieve a
global ban by 2022 on microbeads in personal care and cosmetic products and a
drastic reduction in the use of single-use plastic.
In 2013, scientists were
surprised to find the seas east of Greenland and north of Scandinavia are a
dead-end for plastics. Some seas in that region are said to be heavily polluted
with plastic because of an Atlantic ocean current which dumps debris there.
The reckless dumping of
plastic in the oceans should stop as it wreaks havoc on marine wildlife,
fisheries and tourism and the damage to marine ecosystems is immense.
Give peace a chance
in South Sudan
At a time when bitter
conflict and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in South Sudan are driving
people away from their homes in record numbers, President Salva Kiir’s decision to declare a
unilateral ceasefire comes as a big relief.
UN officials have repeatedly cautioned that the situation in South Sudan continues to worsen, with
a combination of conflict, drought and famine leading to further displacement
and a rapid exodus of people fleeing one of the world's most severe crises.
In fact, South Sudan has
now become the world's fastest growing refugee crisis with more than 1.8
million refugees, including one million children, having sought safety in
Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the
Central African Republic.
The tragedy is confounded
by the fact that thousands have been dying from hunger and disease while
volunteers are unable to reach the vulnerable population.
There have also been
attacks on peacekeepers and relief personnel, which have severely constricted
the humanitarian operations.
South Sudan has been mired in a civil war since 2013, when Kiir fired
his deputy, Riek Machar. The conflict, fanned by ethnic rivalries, has sparked
Africa's worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide and plunged part
of the country into famine.
It is true that scepticism
reigns on whether Kiir's truce announcement
would lead to long-lasting peace. Kiir had declared such ceasefires earlier
too. However, considering the present volatile situation in the country, any
step towards peace should be welcomed with open arms.
In April 2016, the United States and other Western nations backed a
peace accord that saw Machar return to the capital and again share power with
Kiir. Unfortunately, the deal fell apart less than three months later and
Machar and his supporters fled the capital, pursued by helicopter gunships.
Since then, the conflict has intensified with a mix of ethnic militias
fighting in different parts of the oil-producing country.
According to UN officials,
the number of people fleeing to Sudan in March surpassed the expected figure
for the entire year. Uganda is also seeing higher than expected arrivals and at
this rate is likely to soon host over one million South Sudanese refugees.
Increased displacement
worsens humanitarian suffering. Violence
cannot achieve any goal and only leads to senseless destruction of precious
lives and property. All parties involved in the conflict should realise that
constructive dialogue is the only way forward.
Migrant kids face
endless trauma
The number of migrant
children traveling alone has increased five–fold since 2010, according to the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the trend is especially frightening
because the youngsters are taking highly dangerous routes, often at the mercy
of traffickers, who abuse and exploit them.
According to the new
Unicef report, A Child is a Child: Protecting children on the move from
violence, abuse and exploitation, at least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated
children were recorded in some 80 countries in the combined years of 2015 and
2016, up from 66,000 in 2010 and 2011.
The report indicates that
children account for approximately 28 per cent of trafficking victims globally.
Sub-Saharan Africa and
Central America and the Caribbean have the highest share of children among
detected trafficking victims at 64 and 62 per cent, respectively. Further, as
much as 20 per cent of smugglers have links to human trafficking networks.
Unicef Deputy Executive
Director Justin Forsyth has highlighted the grim reality that ruthless
smugglers and traffickers are exploiting their vulnerability for personal gain,
helping children to cross borders, only to sell them into slavery and forced
prostitution.
In Serbia alone, for example, the number of refugee children has
grown, with 7,000 refugees and migrants stranded, unable to cross the heavily
guarded borders of neighbouring European Union countries Hungary and Croatia.
Incidentally, around 3,200, or 46 per cent, of all refugees and
migrants in Serbia are children, while every third child is unaccompanied.
Unicef’s call on
governments to adopt a six-point agenda for action deserves to be given
top-most attention.
As per the plan:
*Protect child refugees
and migrants, particularly unaccompanied children, from exploitation and
violence
*End the detention of
children seeking refugee status or migrating, by introducing a range of
practical alternatives
*Keep families together as
the best way to protect children and give children legal status
*Keep all refugee and
migrant children learning and give them access to health and other quality
services
*Press for action on the
underlying causes of large-scale movements of refugees and migrants
*Promote measures to
combat xenophobia, discrimination and marginalisation in countries of transit
and destination.
It is a moral and legal
responsibility on the part of any society to protect children. Going by the
trend, it is clear that much more needs to be done by the international
community to protect migrant children from the predators.
Leaving the helpless
children to fend for themselves would only lead to a future society that is
scared and scarred.
Time to heal wounds
of Mosul civilians
Iraqi forces are said to have recaptured nearly 90 per cent of West
Mosul from Daesh and indications
are that all of Mosul would be liberated
from the dreaded militants soon. That, indeed, is comforting news.
What is not comforting,
though, is the continuing plight of civilians, who have been enduring untold
misery for quite a long time.
Half a million people have been currently displaced as a result of the
battle for Mosul, and some 250,000 civilians are estimated to be still trapped
inside the city's west.
The number of those fleeing has also been on the rise, with Thursday
alone witnessing around 20,000 people fleeing West Mosul, as per the Norwegian
Refugee Council. This, by the way, is the biggest single-day displacement since
the start of the operation.
It is true that coalition air strikes have aided the advance of
Iraqi forces, but it should not be forgotten that they have also caused
hundreds of civilian casualties in the city. The implication is that more care
needs to be taken on this front so as to protect civilians better.
Vastly outnumbered militants are increasingly using innocent civilians
as human shields. With a view to deter civilians from escaping the city, they
also injure or kill people who seek to flee. Such monstrous tactics should not
be allowed to succeed.
Hunger is another major threat that trapped civilians are facing. UN
officials say that people have
spoken of conditions that are desperate and worsening. There are no basic
services in the city, no food, no water and no fuel.
Some families have
informed UN officials that they have been living on one meal a day; often just
bread, or flour and water, sometimes supplemented with tomato paste.
The UN refugee agency has
noted that its current humanitarian efforts to shelter and assist displaced
Iraqi families and refugees who fled to Iraq are seriously challenged by waning
funding support. Volunteers’ ability to effectively respond to the immediate
and mounting humanitarian needs in Iraq should not be impeded by fund paucity.
Western Mosul has
undergone extensive destruction, far greater than in the East. Hundreds of
housing sites have been destroyed across the city.
Six months into the Iraqi offensive to oust terrorists from Mosul, the
continuing massive displacement is a matter of serious concern. With the number
of people fleeing West Mosul showing no sign of slowing down, the international
community needs to do more to help the civilians.
