Sudan death sentence woman 'freed'

A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for abandoning her Islamic faith has been freed from jail, her lawyer has told the BBC.

Meriam Ibrahim's death penalty was overturned by an appeal court, the official Suna news agency reported.

She is married to a Christian man and was sentenced under Sharia law to hang for apostasy in May after refusing to renounce Christianity.

Her husband, Daniel Wani, said he was looking forward to seeing her.

He wanted his family to leave Sudan as soon possible, Mr Wani, who is a US citizen, told the BBC Focus on Africa radio programme.

The death sentence for Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, who gave birth to a daughter in prison not long after she was convicted, sparked international outrage.

"We are very very happy about this - and we're going to her now," Mrs Ibrahim's lawyer Elshareef Ali told the BBC.

"They have released her... she's on her way to home," he said.

Mr Ali said Mrs Ibrahim had shown "extraordinary courage" during her ordeal.

"It's a victory for freedom of religion in Sudan... By Mariam's strong position, we believe that in the future no-one will be subjected to such a trial," he said.

Analysis: James Copnall, former BBC Sudan correspondent

The outcry generated by Meriam Ibrahim's case was difficult for the authorities to ignore.

The government in Khartoum is already dealing with an economic crisis, and conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. It simply does not need further ill-feeling - and it is worth pointing out that many of the most vocal opponents of the conviction were Sudanese, not foreigners.

In fact, Mrs Ibrahim's case looks like part of a recurring theme.

In 2009 Lubna Hussein, dubbed the "trouser woman", was arrested for wearing "indecent clothing" in public - in her case a pair of loose green trousers. She was at risk of a public flogging. Eventually she was given a small fine, which was then paid on her behalf to set her free. In 2012, Intisar Sharif Abdullah was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, before she too was released without charge.

In every case, the authorities insist the justice system came to an independent decision, but many believe it bowed to public pressure.

Born to a Muslim father, Mrs Ibrahim, 27, married Mr Wani, a Christian, in 2011.

She has been in jail since February, along with her young son.

Mr Ali said he had not yet seen the appeal court's judgement, and had learned about the verdict through the media.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population. Islamic law has been in force there since the 1980s.

Even though Mrs Ibrahim was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, the authorities consider her to be a Muslim.

Her husband, who was born in South Sudan before it became independent from Sudan, went to the US in 1998 at the height of the civil war.

He met Mrs Ibrahim in 2011 on a visit to Sudan and they were married at the main church in Khartoum.

this article was originally published in BBC NEWS,

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Children of the Congo who risk their lives to supply our mobile phones

in unsafe mines deep underground in eastern Congo, children are working to extract minerals essential for the electronics industry. The profits from the minerals finance the bloodiest conflict since the second world war; the war has lasted nearly 20 years and has recently flared up again.

In that same 20-year period, the concept of corporate social responsibility in the west has evolved from companies giving employees a gym and having some photo opportunities for the chief executive, to addressing human rights throughout the supply chain, yet ICT companies such as Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Apple still cannot guarantee there will be no child labour used in the manufacturing of their products. There is now an increased focus on the supply chain as a crucial element if a company wants to call itself socially responsible.

For the last 15 years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a major source of natural resources for the mobile phone industry. This special relationship has caused incalculable damage.

I have never experienced anything like what I saw the first time I entered the mines of Bisie. Armed groups had made a simple gate of sticks, and everybody going in or out had to pay them money. Around 15-25,000 people were trapped inside this village made of mud and plastic bags.

It was like stepping into the front yard of hell. Women everywhere were calling out their offers of sexual services to bypassers as if they were selling vegetables. Boys as young as 12 stared at us with layers of dried mud on their still-childish cheeks, shy of the bright light after days underground digging out valuable minerals. Everything brought into the village is taxed at the gate; a bottle of water cost several dollars, a kilo of meat cost $12. But because it is more expensive to leave, people stay inside just to get a meal.

There is still hope

It doesn't have to be this way. Fortunately, there are some very powerful tools business can use to help change this. If the will is there, plenty can be done to improve things.

Due diligence must come first. When the electronics industry cannot guarantee that there are no blood minerals in their products, it is because they often do not know who they subcontract to. A guarantee requires that one actually knows one's supply chains. Companies must appoint in-house representatives to get out of their offices and be agents who travel down the supply chain. They should be able to tell the truth about the circumstances when they return – preferably with cameras. Video can be a powerful tool when it comes to understanding the need for policies.

If there are too many weapons in circulation, and it is not safe for an issued agent to investigate whether a mine uses child labour, that is likely to be a very good indicator that one should not source from that particular area.

Transparency is a fantastic tool if one wants to be socially responsible. Warlords finance large-scale killing of civilians with minerals that get melted in Malaysia and then disappear into the undergrowth of subcontractors. Transparency is absolutely crucial when you want to track them down. These supply chains must be published.

It is time that the electronics industries got together to take real action. There is even an industry body set up to help: the Global e-Sustainability Initiative works for responsible ICT-enabled transformation to a sustainable world.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been associated with the electronics industry's intoxicating cash flows since the middle of the 1990s; the industry has claimed the lives of more than 5 million people. The case of this country is special, but natural resources becoming a curse for developing countries is far from rare.

We need transparency in business to spot the grim truth. Some things have not changed very much since colonial times, but instead of theft sanctioned by empires, it's now controlled by markets. Especially in Africa, companies operate with super-cynical exploitation of natural resources. Value simply disappears out of the continent without benefiting the local people.

The funding needed for a boost of the developing world lies within the countries themselves, but the power lies with businesses who are willing to pay a fair price for the natural resources they import. For every euro the international community spends on development and humanitarian aid in Africa, 10 euros are going the other way in the form of natural resources. That is certainly not corporate social responsibility.

this article was originally published in 'The Guardian' and was written by Frank Piasecki Poulsen

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10 Barriers to Education around the world

Children in poor countries face many barriers to accessing an education. Some are obvious – like not having a school to go to – while others are more subtle, like the teacher at the school not having had the training needed to effectively help children to learn. Here we list 10 major barriers to education, and look at how the Global Partnership for Education is working to overcome them. By taking action to encourage the UK Government to make a strong commitment to the Global Partnership, you’ll be helping to break down these barriers.

1. A lack of funding for education

While the Global Partnership for Education is helping many developing countries to increase their own domestic financing for education, global donor support for education is decreasing at an alarming rate.  Total aid delivered for basic education has dropped for three years in a row, resulting in a 16% reduction between 2009 and 2012. Aid to basic education is now at the same level as it was in 2008. This is creating a global funding crisis that is having serious consequences on countries’ ability to get children into school and learning. The 59 developing countries that are GPE partners face a funding shortage of $34 billion over the next four years for primary and secondary education. Money isn’t everything, but it is a key foundation for a successful education system.

The Global Partnership is aiming to raise $3.5 billion in new investment from donors like the UK into the GPE fund, as well as increases in other aid to education, and is also asking developing country partners to pledge increases in their own domestic financing. If these pledges are made, GPE estimate that they can leverage a further $16 billion in spending by developing countries on education, aiming to close the global education funding gap.

2. Having no teacher, or having an untrained teacher

What’s the number one thing any child needs to be able to learn? A teacher of course. We’re facing multiple challenges when it comes to teachers. Not only are there not enough teachers globally to achieve universal primary education (let alone secondary), but many of the teachers that are currently working are also untrained, leading to children failing to learn the basics, such as maths and language skills. Globally, the UN estimates that 1.6 million additional new teachers are required to achieve universal primary education by 2015, and 5.1 million more are needed to achieve universal lower secondary education by 2030. Meanwhile, in one out of three countries, less than three-quarters of teachers are trained to national standards.

Since 2011 the Global Partnership for Education has helped to train over 300,000 teachers worldwide. With a successful replenishment, GPE can make teacher recruitment and training a top global priority for delivering quality education for all.

3. No classroom

This seems like a pretty obvious one – if you don’t have a classroom, you don’t really have much of a chance of getting a decent education. But again, that’s a reality for millions of children worldwide. Children in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are often squeezed into overcrowded classrooms, classrooms that are falling apart, or are learning outside. In Malawi, for example, there are 130 children per classroom in grade 1 on average. It’s not just a lack of classrooms that’s the problem, but also all the basic facilities you would expect a school to have – like running water and toilets. In Chad, only one in seven schools has potable water, and just one in four has a toilet; moreover, only one-third of the toilets that do exist are for girls only – a real disincentive and barrier for girls to come to school.

Since 2011 funding from the Global Partnership for Education has helped to build or rehabilitate 53,000 classrooms. If they receive the money they need from donors like the UK, the GPE can ensure that many more children are able to learn in a decent classroom.

4. A lack of learning materials

Outdated and worn-out textbooks are often shared by six or more students in many parts of the world. In the United Republic of Tanzania, for example, only 3.5% of all grade 6 pupils had sole use of a reading textbook. In Cameroon, there are 11 primary school students for every reading textbook and 13 for every mathematics textbook in grade 2. Workbooks, exercise sheets, readers and other core materials to help students learn their lessons are in short supply. Teachers also need materials to help prepare their lessons, share with their students, and guide their lessons.

Between 2011 and 2014, the Global Partnership’s developing country partners are on track to distribute 55 million textbooks thanks to GPE support.

5. The exclusion of children with disabilities

Despite the fact that education is a universal human right, being denied access to school is common for the world’s 93 million children with disabilities. In some of the world’s poorest countries, up to 95% of children with disabilities are out of school. A combination of discrimination, lack of training in inclusive teaching methods among teachers, and a straightforward lack of disabled accessible schools leave this group uniquely vulnerable to being denied their right to education.

Children with disabilities are one of the Global Partnership for Education’s priorities over the next four years. With a successful replenishment, the GPE will be able to work with its 59 developing country partners to promote inclusive education. The Global Partnership has pledged that by 2018, 80% of its partner countries will have explicit policy and legislation on education for children with disabilities.

6. Being the ‘wrong’ gender

Put simply, gender is one of the biggest reasons why children are denied an education.  Despite recent advances in girls’ education, a generation of young women has been left behind. Over 100 million young women living in developing countries are unable to read a single sentence. At least one in five adolescent girls around the world is denied an education by the daily realities of poverty, conflict and discrimination. Poverty forces many families to choose which of their children to send to school. Girls often miss out due to belief that there’s less value in educating a girl than a boy. Instead, they are sent to work or made to stay at home to look after siblings and work on household chores.

Ensuring girls can access and complete a quality education is a top priority for the Global Partnership for Education. Since its inception, GPE has helped 10 million girls to go to school. 28 of GPE’s developing country partners have succeeded in getting equal numbers of girls and boys to complete primary school. With a successful replenishment, GPE aims to increase the percentage of girls completing primary school from 74% to 84% by 2018.

7. Living in a country in conflict or at risk of conflict

There are many casualties of any war, and education systems are often destroyed. While this may seem obvious, the impact of conflict cannot be overstated. In 2011, around 50% of all of the world’s out-of-school children were living in countries affected by conflict. Conflict prevents governments from functioning, teachers and students often flee their homes, and continuity of learning is greatly disrupted. Worryingly, education has thus far been a very low priority in humanitarian aid to countries in conflict – only 1.4% of global humanitarian assistance was allocated to education in 2012.

Since its establishment, the Global Partnership for Education has committed 61% of its funds to conflict-affected and fragile states — higher than most other donors. Of the 29 million children GPE hope to get into school between 2015 and 2018, 23 million are living in fragile and conflict-affected states. The Global Partnership is also right now looking at how to further improve its operations to accelerate support to countries in emergencies or early recovery situations.

8. Distance from home to school

For many children around the world, a walk to school of up to three hours in each direction is not uncommon. This is just too much for many children, particularly those children with a disability, those suffering from malnutrition or illness, or those who are required to work around the household. Imagine having to set off for school, hungry, at 5am every day, not to return until 7pm. Many children, especially girls, are also vulnerable to violence on their long and hazardous journeys to and from school.

By investing in new schools, more schools, the Global Partnership for Education is helping to reduce the distances children have to travel to get to school for a decent education. With pledges of support from donors like the UK, the GPE can help ensure no child has to endure such long journeys just to fulfil their basic right to education.

9. Hunger and poor nutrition

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The Impact of hunger on education systems is gravely underreported. Being severely malnourished, to the point it impacts on brain development, can be the same as losing four grades of schooling. Around 171 million children in developing countries are stunted by hunger by the time they reach age 5. Stunting can affect a child’s cognitive abilities as well as their focus and concentration in school. As a result, stunted children are 19% less likely to be able to read by age eight. Conversely, good nutrition can be crucial preparation for good learning.

The Global Partnership for Education seeks to address national priorities as decided by developing country governments themselves. Where under-nutrition is a major concern, the GPE is stepping in to address the problem. For instance, in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, an innovative School Meals Program funded by GPE is addressing students’ nutritional deficits as well as promoting self-reliance, community ownership, and sustainability through integrated local food production and the active involvement of community members. As a result, Lao PDR has seen increased school enrollment (especially for girls), improved nutritional status, reduced household expenses, and stronger student-teacher-parent and community relations.

10. The expense of education (formal or informal fees)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes clear that every child has the right to a free basic education, so that poverty and lack of money should not be a barrier to schooling. In many developing countries, over the last decades governments have announced the abolition of school fees and as a result, seen impressive increases in the number of children going to school. But for many of the poorest families, school remains too expensive and children are forced to stay at home doing chores or work themselves. Families remain locked in a cycle of poverty that goes on for generations. In many countries in Africa, while education is theoretically free, in practice ‘informal fees’ see parents forced to pay for ‘compulsory items’ like uniforms, books, pens, extra lessons, exam fees or funds to support the school buildings. In other places, the lack of functioning public (government) schools means that parents have no choice but to send their children to private schools that, even when technically ‘low fee’, are unaffordable for the poorest families who risk making themselves destitute in their efforts to get their children better lives through education.

The Global Partnership for Education’s primary purpose is to help strengthen the national education systems of the poorest countries, building their capacity to deliver quality affordable education for all citizens. The GPE specifically priorities the most marginalised children out of school, supporting countries to find ways to provide even the poorest families with access to basic education. If donors like the UK pledge funds to the GPE this year, the Global Partnership aims to support 29 million more children to get a good education.

This article was published originally in GlobalCitizen.org

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Why Wait in the Queue? How Kenya’s Slum Dwellers are Reclaiming their Toilets

In the face of failing sanitation systems, the residents of Mathare are taking matters into their own hands.

Nairobi, Kenya:
A group is gathered around a leaking sewage system, armed with long wooden sticks, spades and rakes. Some wear protective gloves and gumboots, but many do not. Inserting long sticks inside the leaking sewer, they dislodge the papers, garbage and debris blocking it, whilst others move to remove the detritus. It is slow and painstaking work.

This is a regular routine in Mathare, a large slum in Nairobi, Kenya, where lack of sanitation is one of the major problems facing the 600,000 inhabitants. The Kenyan government constructed public latrines here decades ago but the Nairobi City Council failed to maintain or clean them, leading to dilapidation. The slum’s citizens therefore took the maintenance of the latrines – each of which serves over 1,000 people every day – into their own hands.

“We know it’s the work of the Nairobi water and sewer company to unblock the sewerage infrastructure but if we wait for them, more people will die of diarrhoea because that company takes months to respond,” says Stephen Klhara, a 21-year-old nicknamed Igush. He says residents have been forced to volunteer once a month to unblock the sewer themselves.

Spending a penny

The residents have since agreed to privatise the latrines, due to the high cost of their maintenance. It costs five Kenyan Shillings (approximately $0.06) per entry and families qualify for a monthly ticket at KSh300 ($3.40).“I open the toilet at around 5:30am and I clean it. At around 6:00am customers begin flocking in and the toilet is very busy until 9:00am,” says Peter Teresia Nderu, 33, one of the cleaners. Nderu makes around KSh4,000 a day (approximately $45) but faces a constant struggle as the inadequate water supply makes cleaning the latrines difficult.

Many residents cannot afford the new fees and therefore have to use “flying toilets” – so-called because people relieve themselves in a polythene bags and throw them away when no-one is watching – or use open defecation areas or pit latrines. While most of the pit latrines are arranged in channels so the waste flows down to the open river, they are often full so local youths are employed to empty them.

“In Mathare you can’t afford to choose the kind of you work you will do, at the end of the day you have to survive,” says one of the workers, who wished to remain anonymous. The group operates at night, using buckets to drain the waste and dump it in the river. They rarely wear protective gear.

Toilet troubles

Target 7 of the Millennium Development Goals aims to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Yet Mathare is certainly not on track to achieve this and the health risks posed by unsafe latrines are manifold here.

According to Dr. Kennedy Otieno, a local doctor, three in ten of his patients suffer from diarrhoea, usually caused by the consumption of contaminated water or food. Most of the contaminated food comes from the roadside markets, which worsens during the rainy seasons. “In most cases, when the sewage system blocks, the waste scatters all over the area giving a chance for insects to quickly and easily contaminate the food nearby,” says Dr. Otieno. “Children are the most affected.”

Teresiah Nyambura has lived in Mathare since the early 1980s. A mother of four, she has suffered diarrhoea more than 20 times and her children’s health has been put at risk. “During the eighties the public toilets were in the worst condition. Whenever the sewers blocked, my house was full of foul smell and my kids often got sick. I had no other place to live and my kids had to deal with the situation. It always got worse when visitors came from upcountry. Most of them would get sick almost immediately.”

Some local organisations have formed partnerships to rehabilitate some of the dilapidated public toilets, in a bid to secure better sanitation.  One organisation, Mathare Association has partnered with The Rotary Club, for example. By replacing leaking ceilings, putting doors on open toilets, installing water tanks and ensuring that the waste is properly channelled into the Nairobi Sewerage System, these groups are helping to improve living conditions for people in Mathare.

In light of the recent election of Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2013, residents have high hopes for the current government. Kenyans recently voted for a new constitution, which stated that more services and resources are to be allocated by county administration, rather than through the old centralised system. Mathare residents hope this will ensure that there are better toilets and safer sewage systems, but only time will tell.

This article originally appeared in think africa press and was written by DAVID KARIUKI

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Transnistria: A Country That Doesn’t Exist Is Haven for Guns and Vice

Within seconds of directing my camera at the bald granite Lenin head a suited man emerges. “No pictures allowed here. Passport and registration please.” He shows his own identification, a hammer and sickle emblazoned across the page next to his frowning portrait. “Presidential Security,” he informs me, “you must delete these pictures.” We would be ordered to stop photographing five more times in the next three days

This was outside the presidential offices of the recently elected Yevgeny Shevchuk in Tiraspol, Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway Republic sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. It has been called the most lawless place in Europe and is rumored to be a thriving transit zone for arms and human trafficking.

Our local guide, Andrey Smolenski laughed when he heard the story. “They still think that anyone with a camera is a spy, a relic of Soviet times,” he says as he swings his car onto the wide empty boulevard called ’25 Oktobrya, the date of the Bolshevik revolution. “Still, the KGB is not as bad now thanks to our new president.”

About 500,000 people live in this small sliver of land, which seceded from Moldova as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Not much has changed here since then. The Supreme Soviet still makes the laws, the flag bears a hammer-and-sickle and the style of clothing is patently Soviet in its drabness. War memorials commemorating the short conflict between Transnistria and Moldova occupy the towns’ central squares, replete with statues and artwork in the style of Socialist realism.

In the past tourists were only allowed in for a few hours, and though the policy has lightened in recent years, few stay here for more than a day. There are no foreign embassies, except for those of two other unrecognized states, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. “If you find yourself in trouble, you are alone,” was the warning leaving Moldova.

Though unrecognized, Transnistria is a de facto state, maintaining its own military, police force, border control and postal service. It issues its own currency though ATMs dispense only U.S. dollars and Russian rubles, which must then be exchanged.

Our guide, Smolenski, a 27 year old in an American sports jacket, meets us in front of a WWII era tank for a tour of the city. He co-wrote a book about Transnistria and works for the state-run radio station — but is now trying to set up a tour agency for Western visitors. “I will give you an objective picture of my country,” he says assuredly. The tour consists mostly of war memorials and other sights dedicated to the heroism of the Transnistrian partisan forces in the 1992 “war for independence.”

“I know that you are not spies,” Smolenski says a bit later, “this is not needed anymore since the new president took office in December, the situation improved. Sometimes it seems here that you might be in North Korea, but it is not.” He drives past a checkpoint with heavily armed Russian peacekeeping soldiers. “Don’t take pictures,” he snaps, “if they see you, they will stop us and we’ll have to have a serious talk with some serious guys.” When asked if that meant the KGB, Smolenski nodded in the affirmative.

Smolenski begins to tell the history of his country, a familiar story of frozen conflict in the post-Soviet world. Under Stalin’s policy of Russification, waves of Russian immigrants came pouring into the Moldovan Soviet Republic, particularly into the heavily industrialized area of Transnistria. As the Soviet Union was collapsing, nationalist parties gained power and Moldova declared independence. Romanian was declared the only official language and there were calls from the right wing fringe to expel all Slavic peoples from the country. A short conflict ensued between Moldova and the majority Slavic Transnistria, which ended in a stalemate after the Russian Army intervened on the breakaway republic’s behalf. Russian troops remain in Transnistria to this day.

Most Moldovans refer to the Russian troops as occupiers. “All propaganda,” says Smolenski. “The Moldovan fascists tell these lies and America and the EU believe them. There could have been genocide here if Russia had not stepped in. But, the fact that we are unrecognized is proof that the Cold War is not yet over. Without Russia’s support we would not survive.”

Although Russia also does not officially recognize Transnistria, it provides the country with tremendous financial support to the tune of $150 million a year, according to Smolenski. Indeed, Russia’s presence is heavily felt in the country. At every border crossing or strategic position there are Russian peacekeepers with AK-47 assault rifles and heavily armored vehicles concealed beneath camouflage netting. An enormous slogan reading “Russia brings peace and stability” was painted across an overpass.

The Soviet landscape has also remained intact. The country is remarkably clean and free of graffiti and trash. The facades of all of the buildings on the main streets are immaculate and propaganda posters hang from buildings proclaiming, “Tiraspol is our favorite city!” Another banner bears the face of the new president with the mantra “There Will Be Order” printed boldly down the side.

In the classic Russian style of Potemkin villages and dummy missiles, much of this order is illusion. Behind high walls and fences are piles of rotting trash. The sides of the buildings not visible from the street are unpainted and crumbling. Most of the young people expressed a strong desire to leave the country. When asked about life in Transnistria one young man named Alexander said, “life is very bad here.”

A bored man working with his wife in a tailor shop gave the most enthusiastic assessment: “It is possible to live here.”

Most reminiscent of the communist era is the extreme boredom and conformity that permeates the place. There are barely any cafes or clubs, nothing beautiful in the city, no culture to speak of. Most of the young people were more anxious to ask questions about Europe and America than to talk about their own country. Ninteen year old Vilena — the name, a derivation of Vladimir Illich Lenin — looks shyly at my American friend and asks “what is it like to live in America?” She asks if there are really so many sheep in my native Netherlands.

As the days pass and as more uniformed men appear demanding passports, a sense of unease begins to fall over the trip. Andrei tells about an Austrian tourist he had showed around a few months before. “He took a picture of a factory and was arrested by the KGB, but because he spoke no Russian they called me. They interrogated me for six hours, without coffee or anything,” he looks out the window at some people waiting for a trolleybus and as if by reflex says, “but that was under the previous president, now everything is better.”.

This article originally appeared in huffington post and was written by MILES ATKINSON & FLEUR DE WEERD

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