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NTS Bulletin

NTS Bulletin April 2010 (Issue 2)
Issues:
Note: Please click on the respective titles or headers for the full report.

Disclaimer: All links and news reports are correct at the time of publication.

MAIN HIGHLIGHT

Mega-sporting events fuelling human trafficking?

The upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup scheduled to take place in South Africa between 11 June and 11 July 2010 has once again raised concerns over the possibility of human trafficking. A study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa's statutory research agency, has already warned that human trafficking is a serious problem in South Africa and that the FIFA World Cup could lead to an increase in the volume of trafficking. The report Tsireledzani: Understanding the dimensions of human trafficking in southern Africa stated that victims of trafficking in South Africa are mostly women, girls and boys trafficked for a variety of purposes, including prostitution, pornography, domestic servitude, forced labour, begging, criminal activity (including drug trafficking), and trafficking for the removal of body parts (or muti). Moreover, South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. It has 72 official ports of entry “and a number of unofficial ports of entry where people come in and out without being detected” along its 5,000 km-long land borderline.


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MIGRATION

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This paper lists recommendations made by the ECRE at the 2010 Ministerial Conference on Integration held from 15 to 16 April 2010 in Zaragoza, Spain. The recommendations centre on permitting asylum seekers in the European Union to work, and to grant them access to education and vocational training.

In this report, the theory and practice of community-based protection for migrants and internally displaced persons is analysed. Challenges to implementing community-based protection in humanitarian and development settings are presented along with recommendations on how to overcome these obstacles.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

Using cases drawn from the United States, Canada, and Australia, Mountz explores how states use their extensive powers to modify immigration and refugee policy. Whether states view themselves as powerful actors with the duty to exclude outsiders, or as guardians of a vulnerable society, the author notes that they often adopt exclusionary policies. Muntz also asserts that when states implement restrictive policies to discourage migration, they often subvert the human rights of immigrants and extend their powers beyond their own borders.

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INTERNAL AND CROSS-BORDER CONFLICT

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

According to the new issue of the International Crisis Group’s monthly bulletin, two actual or potential conflict situations deteriorated and one improved in March 2010. The situation deteriorated in Guinea-Bissau when a group of soldiers briefly detained Prime Minister Gomes, arrested the current army chief, and freed a former navy head implicated in 2008’s failed coup. Meanwhile, twin suicide bombings in Moscow killed 39 people. CrisisWatch also identifies a conflict risk alert for Sudan, where the political situation remains highly unstable ahead of national elections in April. In Haiti, prospects for successful post-earthquake reconstruction improved after donors pledged more than US$5 billion in aid.

Since the inception of its popularity in the 1990s, the concept of prevention has become a staple of almost all important attempts to delineate the scope of humanitarian action in the field of forced displacement. The thesis of this article is that, despite its omnipresence, the concept not only remains ill-defined, but is also so much ridden with internal inconsistencies as to render it all but impractical as a basis for policy design in the humanitarian field.

Displaced Childhoods is the first comprehensive report of its kind to document the experiences of internally displaced children against the backdrop of Burma’s obligations under domestic and international law. For more than 40 years, Burma’s children have been scarred by death, destruction, loss and neglect at the hands of Burma’s military. It is estimated that there are just over one million displaced children inside Burma today. The report examines the reasons for and types of displacement the children of Burma face, documents how childhood is often disrupted by violence, insecurity and poverty, concludes by presenting evidence of how Burma’s military government, the State Peace and Development Council, is flagrantly contravening its legal obligations under international law, and calls for a formal investigation through a UN commission of enquiry to evaluate allegations of international crimes committed against the civilian population in Burma.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

Does conflict transformation work? Diana Francis reviews developments in the field over the past twenty years. She recognises that it has helped those engulfed in violent conflict to respond constructively, but also warns that the real requirement for peace is a global rejection of militarism. In an original and radical analysis, Francis argues that the dominant culture of power, resting on coercion and violence, must be replaced by the principles of interdependence, kindness and nonviolent solidarity. This is the only way that pacification – efforts to dominate and control – will be replaced by genuine peacebuilding. She calls upon peacemakers worldwide to embrace and develop the practice of nonviolent power, rejecting the culture and institutions of war and working with movements around the world for global demilitarisation and ‘positive peace’.

This volume exposes some of the various issues raised in relation to Muslim communities in Europe by putting the intellectual and legal traditions into dialogue. It brings together a number of scholars of Shari‘a and Islamic law with counterparts from the parallel European disciplines of hermeneutics, philosophy and jurisprudence, to explore how the processes of theological-legal thinking have been expressed and are being expressed in a more or less common intellectual framework. It provides a valuable reference for all those interested in exploring how Muslims and non-Muslims view Shari‘a law by looking at ways the European legal systems can provide some form of accommodation with Muslim customs.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This rapid assessment sought to ‘understand and tailor responses to the vulnerabilities and characteristics of trafficking in the Musina border area of South Africa’. This report was designed to overcome the lack of concrete data on the trafficking of persons in Musina in order to inform policymaking and programming. Anecdotal evidence suggests that trafficking in persons may be taking place in Musina, given the high level of migration of people from Zimbabwe into South Africa in search of a better life. Research reports have described the vulnerability of these migrants to violence, deception and exploitation in South Africa, but have not explored the relationship between this violence and deception as well as their movement into exploitative situations. In Musina, economic migrants, unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers and others wait in abhorrent conditions for the possible regularisation of their legal status. These migrants may be vulnerable to trafficking and related health concerns. Against this backdrop, this assessment sought to explore these vulnerabilities in order to develop future interventions to protect and secure the well-being of all migrants in Musina, particularly those most vulnerable.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

This is an implementation report of the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) covering the biennium 2008–09. It provides information about the programme's activities worldwide during this period. The report also reflects upon IPEC’s responses to implications of the global economic crisis on child labour and highlights the lessons learned by IPEC after a decade of action against child trafficking. IPEC’s activities have directly benefited some 300,000 children during this period, either through preventive measures or by rescuing them from child labour practices. Another 52 million children were indirectly benefited by the programme’s work. IPEC increasingly aims to mainstream action against child labour into national development frameworks, while direct intervention projects remain a cornerstone of its activities. IPEC was operational in 92 countries during 2008 and 2009, working together with ILO constituents to develop policy and legislative responses to child labour.

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WATER SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This report by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) confirms that advances continue to be made towards greater access to safe drinking water. Progress in relation to access to basic sanitation is however insufficient to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation.

Current policies on upland agriculture need reviewing in light of recent research that shows that slash-and-burn farming systems are not only more sustainable than other systems, but could also play a better role in sustaining downstream hydropower and river delta rice-bowls. Its key findings are: partnerships between upland farmers and hydropower developers could help protect future hydropower generation from high erosion rates and reservoir siltation; adaptation to climate change will require a strong focus on stabilising slopes prone to landslides; and large-scale commercial biofuel production systems have higher rates of erosion than traditional cropping systems and require strong soil conservation measures.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

The publication addresses the urgency of controlling pollution and preserving water quality around the world. The past few decades have focused on the importance of water quantity in meeting basic human and ecosystem needs for water. Water quality is as important as water quantity for satisfying human and environmental needs, and yet has received far less investment, scientific support, and public attention. An overview of water quality challenges details the contaminants and human activities that affect water quality. Water quality impacts human health, water quantity, livelihood, economic activity, and climate change. Emerging contaminants, population growth and urbanisation also present additional stresses to water quality. This publication quantifies the issues and uses case studies to illustrate both problems and solutions. With an emphasis on water quality solutions, strategies for water-quality institutions and data, pollution prevention, treatment, and ecological restoration are laid out, with mechanisms to further the goal of clean water for a healthy world. It concludes by highlighting the main findings and key policy recommendations.

This report builds on the first State of the Basin Report, which was published in 2003. It describes the status of fisheries, forestry, agriculture, hydropower, water quality, wet­lands, navigation and trade, climate change and flood management in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), where about 60 million people live, and the interactions between them. The report provides readers with information about the ecological health of the Mekong river system, highlighting its resilience to current human-induced pressures and also the threats that it faces. It also outlines some of the development challenges facing water resources in the basin – including hydropower development, land use change and climate change. These will be monitored and revisited in subsequent State of the Basin reports.

Faced with mounting shortages of water, a worsening trend in water pollution and growing damages from climate change, the international community must find additional ways to support countries in managing their water resources. The challenge, according to the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), is to meet today's water needs while putting in place innovative strategies to address water stress – manifested in shortages projected in the order of 40 per cent by 2030 according to some calculations. IEG's latest report, ‘Water and Development: An Evaluation of World Bank Support, 1997–2007’, examines the World Bank’s support for water-related activities and draws implications for what ought to be done.

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TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This paper presents an analysis of the volume and pattern of illicit financial flows from African countries over a 39-year period from 1970 to 2008. The paper makes a contribution given that existing research on long-term trends in the pattern of illicit flows from African countries is rather scarce. The paper presents estimates of illicit financial flows from Africa and its various regions and economic groupings during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the most recent nine-year period 2000 to 2008 for which data is available. It finds that illicit flows have not only grown on a decennial basis, cumulatively they have come to far exceed the continent’s outstanding external debt at the end of 2008. The statistical analysis of long-term trends brings out some interesting regional disparities in the pattern and growth of such flows. Utilising the World Bank Residual model and the IMF Direction of Trade Statistics, illicit outflows from Africa across the 39-year period are estimated at US$854 billion. The authors point out that data limitation significantly understates the problem. Making various adjustments to the estimate suggests that the volume of illicit flows over the period 1970 to 2008 may be closer to US$1.8 trillion. This staggering loss of capital seriously hampers Africa’s efforts at poverty alleviation and economic development.

This report released by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) on private, non-resident deposits in secrecy jurisdictions finds that the United States, United Kingdom, and the Cayman Islands are the most popular destinations for financial deposits by non-residents. Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong also make the top 10 list of destinations. The report analyses data from the Bank of International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund to measure total deposits by non-residents in areas considered secrecy jurisdictions under the definition established by the Tax Justice Network.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

According to the first ever UNODC report on cannabis in Afghanistan, the country is not just the world's biggest producer of opium, it is also a major producer of cannabis. The survey estimates that between 10,000 and 24,000 tonnes of cannabis plant are grown in Afghanistan every year. The survey is based on data from 1,634 villages in 20 provinces. It shows that there is large-scale cannabis plant cultivation in half (17 of 34) of Afghanistan's provinces. The gross income gained per hectare of cannabis plant (US$ 3,900) is higher than that of opium poppy (US$ 3,600). Cannabis is also cheap to harvest and process. In Afghanistan, it is three times cheaper to cultivate a hectare of cannabis plant than a hectare of opium poppy. As a result, the net income of a hectare of cannabis plant is US$ 3,341 compared to US$ 2,005 per hectare of opium poppy. The survey shows that opium poppy is still favoured over cannabis plant among Afghan farmers as unlike opium poppy, the cannabis plant has a short shelf life and grows in summer, when less water is available for irrigation. In the aggregate, the value of cannabis resin in Afghanistan was estimated at between US$ 39 million and US$ 94 million, about 10 to 20 per cent of the farm-gate value of opium (US $438 million in 2009).

UNODC’s 2010 Annual Report covers the full range of UNODC's work around the world: promoting drug treatment and alternative development, improving criminal justice, strengthening integrity, and reducing vulnerability to crime. Its descriptive chapters are brought to life by photos and personal accounts, like those of a trafficking survivor, a prison employee, a cacao farmer, and a recovering drug addict. The report also explains how UNODC carries out its renowned research, including its growing capacity in scientific and forensic services. The report concludes by offering a blunt assessment of UNODC's resource requirements. One of the main themes throughout the report is the threat posed by organised crime. The issue is high on the international agenda and organised crime has been debated in the Security Council several times over the past six months.

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About the Centre:

The Centre for NTS Studies of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, was inaugurated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan in May 2008. The Centre maintains research in the fields of Climate Change, Energy Security, Health Security, as well as Internal and Cross Border Conflict. It produces policy-relevant analyses aimed at furthering awareness and building capacity to address NTS issues and challenges in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The Centre also provides a platform for scholars and policymakers within and outside Asia to discuss and analyse NTS issues in the region.

In 2009, the Centre was chosen by the MacArthur Foundation as a lead institution for the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative, to develop policy research capacity and recommend policies on the critical security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific.

The Centre is also a founding member and the Secretariat for the Consortium of Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia). More information on the Centre can be found at www.rsis.edu.sg/nts


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