Taliban eye aid at their first UN climate talks since 2021 takeover

Taliban eye aid at their first UN climate talks since 2021 takeover
Mawlawi Matiul Haq Khalis, director-general of Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) meets with the media on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku on November 11, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 12 November 2024
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Taliban eye aid at their first UN climate talks since 2021 takeover

Taliban eye aid at their first UN climate talks since 2021 takeover
  • The Afghan delegation is in Baku as “guests” of the hosts, not as a party directly involved in the negotiations

BAKU: The first Afghan official to attend UN climate talks since the Taliban came to power told AFP Monday that his country hopes to benefit from a global finance deal under negotiation at COP29 in Baku.
Heading a three-person team, former Taliban negotiator Matiul Haq Khalis stood out in the bustling halls of the conference in Azerbaijan’s capital where delegates from nearly 200 countries began two weeks of talks.
The Taliban-led government, which is not internationally recognized, tried and failed to attend the previous COP (Conference of the Parties) meetings held in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Khalis, director general of Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), said his team was invited to attend the talks by Azerbaijan’s ecology minister and COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev.
The Afghan delegation is in Baku as “guests” of the hosts, not as a party directly involved in the negotiations.
“I really appreciate” Babayev’s invitation and the Azerbaijani government’s facilitation of visas, said Khalis, son of prominent jihadist figure Mawlawi Yunus Khalis.
His delegation, he told AFP through an interpreter, aims to “deliver the message ... to the world community that climate change is a global issue and it does not know transboundary issues.”
With Afghanistan among the countries most vulnerable to global warming, the Taliban have argued that their political isolation should not bar them from international climate talks.
Khalis said COP29 participants should take into consideration vulnerable countries such as Afghanistan, which are most affected from the effects of climate change, “in their decisions.”
The Taliban treatment of women, however, could be controversial at climate conferences where gender rights always play a part of the discussions.
“Afghan people, especially the most vulnerable, urgently need support from climate finance to recover and adapt,” climate activist Harjeet Singh told AFP.
“However, as the Taliban government seeks to engage in the international process, it is essential that they respect and promote universal fundamental rights — particularly women’s rights within the country,” he said.
Women and children in particular “are bearing the brunt” of climate change, Sanjay Vashist, director of the Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) told AFP.
While the Taliban are barred from the negotiations, “the world cannot abandon the people of Afghanistan who are suffering from the triple whammy of the climate crises, gross human rights violations and extreme poverty,” Vashist said.
Asked about the gender issue, Khalis told AFP that the implementation of climate change projects “boost” women as well.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the invitation.
Azerbaijan reopened its embassy in Kabul in February this year, though it has not officially recognized the Taliban government.
Developed countries have committed to providing $100 billion per year in climate finance through 2025 to help developing nations prepare for worsening climate impacts and wean their economies off fossil fuels.
Developing nations are calling for trillions of dollars, but Babayev said Monday a more “realistic goal” was somewhere in the hundreds of billions.
“Our people in Afghanistan also should access” such funds “as a right (over) climate change,” Khalis said, describing it has his country’s “main expectation” at COP29.
Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.
Drought, floods, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity are key threats, the UN development agency’s representative in Afghanistan, Stephen Rodriques, said in 2023.
Flash floods in May killed hundreds and swamped swaths of agricultural land in Afghanistan, where 80 percent of people depend on farming to survive.
Khalis said Afghanistan was seeking to attend next year’s climate summit in Brazil as an official party to the talks.
“We are very interested to be as a party in the COP30 in Brazil,” he said.
“This is the right of the people, the climate justice for the people that’s actually most vulnerable communities to the impact of climate change.”


Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’

Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’
Updated 04 December 2024
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Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’

Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’
  • India, where ex-PM Hasina has sought refuge, accuses Bangladesh of failing to protect Hindus
  • After Hasina’s ouster, Hindus and other minorities suffered attacks for allegedly supporting her

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday urged the country’s politicians to keep differences at bay and put up a united front to counter “Indian aggression.”

The Muslim-majority nation saw a student-led uprising in August, toppling autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina and ending her 15-year rule.

India — Hasina’s biggest international patron and the destination of her exile — has accused Yunus’ administration of failing to protect minority Hindus, straining ties between the neighbors.

“They are undermining our efforts to build a new Bangladesh and are spreading fictitious stories,” Yunus told a gathering of Bangladeshi political parties.

“They have spread these rumors in particular countries and among influential players.”

Yunus urged politicians at the meeting to unite against what he characterised as a disinformation campaign, describing the matter as “a question of our existence.”

A caretaker administration headed by Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been tasked with enacting democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections.

The chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster saw a smattering of reprisal attacks against Hindus and other minorities, based in part on their perceived support for her government.

Yunus’s administration has acknowledged and condemned attacks on Hindus but said in many cases they were motivated by politics rather than religion.

It has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence and running a “propaganda campaign.”

Wednesday’s meeting, Yunus’s media team said, was part of an initiative to promote national unity in the face of “Indian aggression.”

Yunus also met with student leaders on Tuesday evening.

Numerous street demonstrations have been staged against India in Bangladesh since Hasina’s ouster as diplomatic relations have cratered.

Several rallies were held on Wednesday to protest against an attempt by Hindu activists this week to storm a Bangladeshi consulate in an Indian city not far from the neighbors’ shared border.

India has condemned the breach and arrested seven people over the incident.


Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation

Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation
Updated 04 December 2024
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Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation

Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation
  • Members of elite units ‘living in desperation’ as British scheme beset by delays
  • After serving alongside British forces against Taliban, many fled to neighboring Iran

LONDON: Former Afghan soldiers who fought alongside British forces against the Taliban have urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to bring them to safety, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

Thousands of soldiers from two Afghan special forces units — CF333 and ATF444, known as the Triples — fled to neighboring Iran from Afghanistan as the Taliban seized control of the country in 2021.

Years later they are “living in desperation,” awaiting delayed responses to relocation applications in the UK, The Independent reported.

In February, the UK government said it would review about 2,000 application from Afghans with ties to the units.

Some of the former soldiers have remained in Afghanistan and are forced to hide their identities from the country’s Taliban rulers.

Many of the former Triples are awaiting an email from the UK Ministry of Defence permitting their relocation to Britain.

The UK pledged to review the 2,000 applications within 12 weeks from February, but the process has been struck by delays.

Sarah Fenby-Dixon, a campaigner at Refugee Aid Network said: “The desperation is palpable. With winter approaching they cannot feed their children or buy fuel to keep them warm.

“It is now imperative that the Ministry of Defence teams are adequately staffed to ensure that these people are brought to safety as quickly as possible.”

The ministry said in a statement: “As the minister for the armed forces made clear recently to parliament, we understand the frustration that the review is taking so long.

“Key issues within the review have been resolved and we are working hard to ensure that eligible former Triples and their families can move to start a new life in the UK.”


Norway wealth fund divests from Israel’s Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements

New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
Updated 04 December 2024
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Norway wealth fund divests from Israel’s Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements

New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
  • Fund’s ethics watchdog adopts tougher interpretation of standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories

OSLO/JERUSALEM: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has sold all its shares in Israel’s Bezeq as it provides telecoms services to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The decision, announced late on Tuesday, comes after the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The $1.8-trillion fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field. It owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 8,700 companies, and its size gives it influence.
It is the latest decision by a European financial entity to cut back links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, as pressure mounts from foreign governments to end the war in Gaza.
Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, declined to comment.
“The company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the sovereign wealth fund’s watchdog said in its recommendation to divest.
“By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law.”
The watchdog said it noted that the company had said it was providing telecoms services to Palestinian areas in the West Bank, but that did not outweigh the fact that it was also providing services to Israeli settlements.
The watchdog makes recommendations to the board of the Norwegian central bank, which has the final say on divestments.
The advice on Bezeq was the first recommendation to divest since the watchdog toughened its policy in August. More decisions are expected.
The fund has now sold all its stock in the company.
Before that, it had cut its stake during the first half of 2024, owning 0.76 percent of the company’s shares valued at $23.7 million at the end of June, down from a holding of 2.2 percent at the start of the year, fund data showed.
Sources close to the company said the divestment’s impact was “negligible” as it amounted to 0.7 percent of the shares and that the decision was clearly a “political decision.”
They said Bezeq was allowed to provide telecoms services to Jewish settlements in Area C under the 1994 Oslo Accords — which also called for the Palestinian Authority to set up their own telecoms network to Palestinian areas.
“Bezeq is operating according to the Oslo agreements so it’s a political decision,” said one source. “Of all the companies to choose from (to divest), Bezeq should have been the last.”
Norway in May recognized Palestine as a state, alongside Spain and Ireland.
Norway served as a facilitator in the 1992-1993 talks between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization that led to the Oslo Accords in 1993. Area C, which comprises about 60 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control and contains most Israeli settlements.
The Council on Ethics said it was aware of this but that “the situation in the area has developed in the opposite direction to that presumed by the Oslo Accords.”
“The settlements are constantly being expanded, Palestinians are constantly being driven from their homes and land areas are de facto being annexed,” it told Reuters, citing its recommendation. “Qualified discrimination and violent abuse of the Palestinian population in Area C is also taking place.”
The fund watchdog’s new definition of ethical breaches is partly based on an International Court of Justice finding in July that “the occupation itself, Israel’s settlement policy and the way Israel uses the natural resources in the areas are in conflict with international law,” according to a Aug. 30 letter it addressed to the finance ministry.
Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, the council had been investigating whether more companies fall outside its permitted investment guidelines.
Before the announcement to divest, the fund had divested from nine companies operating in the West Bank.
Their operations include building roads and homes in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and providing surveillance systems for an Israeli wall around the West Bank.


Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives

Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives
Updated 04 December 2024
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Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives

Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives
  • WHO warns of inadequate numbers of female medics in Afghanistan, where 30% of the population lacks access to healthcare
  • Private medical institutes say classes suspended ‘until further notice’ from the Ministry of Public Health

Women training as medics at private institutes in Afghanistan could not attend their courses on Wednesday, saying they had been barred from classes in an apparent expansion of the bans on female education.

The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three years ago. Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and accessing public spaces.

Health services remained one of the few sectors where women were still employed. After the bans on university studies, those who sought to become health professionals turned to midwifery and nursing training.

Azra, 21, who along with her sister attended a course at a private medical institute in Kabul, went to class on Tuesday morning but was soon asked to leave.

“We went to our classes but about an hour later, teachers came and said we must leave before the Taliban come and force us to leave. My dream of becoming a health professional was being taken from me and I couldn’t do anything about it,” she told Arab News.

She graduated from high school three years ago and started studying law at a private university. But before she could complete her first semester, the Taliban imposed a ban on women’s higher education. Determined to become a professional despite the odds, she joined the medical institute.

“This was my last hope to get higher education,” Azra said. “I joined this institute around two and half months ago. I wish I didn’t start this at all.”

None of the Taliban authorities has issued any statement or public notification regarding the ban on nursing courses for women, but in messages to their students and teachers, some of the medical institutes have cited the Ministry of Public Health, which ordered them to suspend classes for women “until further notice.”

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health did not respond to requests for comment.

Laila, 28, who had completed eight semesters of medical studies before the Taliban banned women from universities, was taking a two-year midwifery course at a private institute in Kabul.

The new ban came just as she was about to finish her first year.

“Two days ago, we received a voice message from the institute director that the Ministry of Public Health suspended all private and public medical institutes,” she told Arab News.

“We were all very disappointed. The last door for getting professional education was being shut in our faces and we couldn’t do anything.”

The move affects not only the education sector but also the country’s fragile health system, where the number of women workers is already insufficient.

Edwin Ceniza Salvador, the WHO’s representative in Afghanistan, estimated last month that more than 33 percent of the Afghan population had no access to any health services.

“About 67 percent of the population currently has access,” he told the Afghan news channel Tolo News, where he warned about the decreasing number of women medics. “Now, with the change that has been in place, (there) will come a time where we will run out of female midwives because the educational system has been impacted.”

Dr. Wahid Faizi, a public health practitioner in Herat, told Arab News that the lack of female health workers was already affecting Afghan society at large.

“Our health system is already facing a shortage of qualified female doctors, nurses and midwives. If girls are prevented from receiving medical education, in a few years we will have a very big problem, as the availability of female health workers will become extremely scarce. This will negatively affect access to health services for women and girls and the wider society,” he said.

“The health system will face severe challenges as women and girls are the most affected by health issues. Male doctors alone will not be able to respond to the health crisis that the country is currently experiencing. An increasing lack of female medical staff will have far-reaching implications for health service delivery in the country. We hope that doesn’t happen.”


South Korean president faces impeachment after martial law U-turn

South Korean president faces impeachment after martial law U-turn
Updated 04 December 2024
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South Korean president faces impeachment after martial law U-turn

South Korean president faces impeachment after martial law U-turn
  • President Yoon was the first South Korean leader to invoke martial law since the 1980s
  • Thousands of people gathered in major cities to demand the president’s resignation

SEOUL: South Korea’s president faced an impeachment motion on Wednesday following his sudden declaration of martial law — a short-lived order lifted after parliament convened overnight to reject it.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops and military helicopters encircled the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday night, following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s unexpected move.

To enter the building, 190 lawmakers broke the barricades and climbed fences. As they made it to the voting chamber, they unanimously rejected Yoon’s martial law order, forcing him to rescind it six hours after he made the announcement.

Yoon’s stunning declaration has plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into a political crisis, as the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, and five others submitted a motion to impeach him.

“The declaration is illegal and constitutes a criminal act, directly violating the constitution and other laws. It is essentially a coup d’etat … The president should be held accountable,” Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Min-Seok said during a press conference in front of the parliament.

In South Korea, the president is impeached if two-thirds of the 300-member legislature vote in favor of doing so. The National Assembly has 72 hours to vote on the motion, after which the Constitutional Court has six months to confirm the impeachment.

Yoon, who won the presidency in 2022 by a margin of less than 1 percent, has been stuck in a political gridlock with the opposition — which controls the parliament — since he took office, while his approval rating in polls has fallen sharply.

He said in a televised address on Tuesday night that he had declared martial law to “protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces” and accused the opposition of paralyzing the government with “anti-state activities.”

Tens of thousands of people in major cities took to the streets the next day to call for Yoon’s immediate resignation and arrest in scenes that bore resemblance to 2016 protests that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.

“There is no answer to this crisis except for Yoon to step down. How can someone declare martial law in 21st-century South Korea?” Bianca Won, a protester who joined a vigil in the Gwanghwamun area of Seoul, told Arab News.

“The government does not care about people’s livelihoods and safety,” she said. “There were troops blocking the entrance to the National Assembly. Civilians were fighting with armed troops.”

Yoon was the first South Korean president to invoke martial law since the country achieved full democracy nearly 40 years ago.

After hundreds of people died amid a crackdown on protesters before the last martial law was eventually lifted in 1981, Yoon’s move brought back bitter memories for the older generation.

“At first, when my daughter told me, I thought it was fake news. I couldn’t believe it,” Kim Hee-jung, a 50-year-old woman from the northwestern city of Suwon, told Arab News.

“It reminded me of when I was young … I was scared. I didn’t want my daughter to go through what I went through,” she said.

“Yoon’s government is doing everything wrong … His administration is an utter chaos. He just needs to step down.”