By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 5 2023 – Aditi Agarwal, a brilliant computer science engineer and Gold Medalist, once thrived in the tech world, contributing to innovations at Microsoft. However, she felt a calling to address real-world challenges, particularly those related to carbon emissions and plastic pollution. In pursuit of a nobler cause, she joined a company called Go Rewise, a youth-led initiative in India dedicated to recycling PET bottles through a circular economy approach.

Agarwal’s passion for environmental sustainability is palpable as she explains, “There is no better and nobler cause than reducing carbon emissions in the world today because that is the only way we are going to create a balance and survive.” Her decision to “switch gears” from the corporate world to environmental activism reflects a deep commitment to making a tangible difference.

Go Rewise focuses on the staggering issue of plastic waste in India, specifically targeting the 10 million PET bottles discarded annually.

Agarwal elucidates the essence of their initiative, stating, “It means ‘go recycle wisely’. We believe in circularity—any resource extracted from the earth should be in balance, in circulation as long as possible.” The team’s groundbreaking efforts involve technical recycling, a meticulous process involving more than 20 steps of decontamination to ensure the recycled raw material is safe for human contact.

Agarwal’s passion shines through as she describes the impact of the work: “For the first time in India, we are creating a bottle out of a bottle.”

A woman sits among the plastic waste, which will be recycled several times. Credit: Go Rewise

The significance lies not only in recycling but also in preventing hazardous waste from accumulating in landfills. Agarwal emphasizes the urgency of their mission.

“Imagine 10 million bottles every year going into landfills; how much space it will take, and this plastic wouldn’t biodegrade in just six months or a year.”

The initiative is not just about recycling; it’s a holistic approach that involves collaboration with beverage companies and obtaining licenses from food regulators. “We have a license from food regulators for doing so. We are working with many beverage companies.”

The strategic partnerships enable Go Rewise to intervene at various stages of the plastic lifecycle, preventing pollution and promoting sustainability.

The story goes beyond recycling; it involves millions of ragpickers across India, who play a crucial role in the process. Agarwal speaks passionately about their involvement.

“We collect from ragpickers, and we train them on what is PET and what is non-PET.”

The initiative empowers individuals on the ground, creating awareness about different types of plastics and their impact on the environment.

Once the collected bottles reach Go Rewise, they undergo a meticulous process of segregation, washing, and drying before being put to use again.

Agarwal explains, “We wash the bottles, and the chemical properties of the polymer are regulated.” This commitment to quality ensures that the recycled bottles can go through the process multiple times, contributing to a sustainable and circular economy.

AAgarwal, now serving as the Assistant Vice President overseeing marketing for Go Rewise, is a driving force behind the initiative. She attends COP28 not only to showcase the innovative solutions they are implementing but also to inspire others to think critically about their contributions to environmental sustainability.

“I am here at COP28 to inspire and get inspired,” she told the Inter Press Service.

Reflecting on her journey, Agarwal emphasizes the importance of assessing solutions carefully “Activism doesn’t mean discarding the solution without assessment. We want people to assess the solutions they are creating. There is a need for thoughtful and sustainable approaches that cater to the demands of billions of people on Earth.”

As a computer science engineer who once excelled in the corporate world, Agarwal’s story is a testament to the power of individuals to make a difference. Her decision to step away from the conventional path and delve into real-world problems echoes a broader call for a paradigm shift in how we approach environmental challenges.

Agarwal’s journey with Go Rewise is a story of transformation—from a tech-driven career to a passionate advocate for environmental sustainability. Her words serve as a rallying cry for a circular economy, challenging the prevailing linear approach, which, according to her, is make-take and waste.

As she stands at COP28, Agarwal seeks not only to inspire but also to ignite a collective movement towards a future where products re-enter the value chain, contributing to a healthier planet for generations to come.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Lynn Hastings
GAZA, Palestine, Dec 5 2023 – The 7-day ceasefire brought respite to everyone; hostages were reunited with their families and desperately needed aid went into Gaza. We need more of this; all hostages released and considerably more aid and protection for Palestinian civilians.

But since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza on 1 December, 700 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in addition to the 15,500 already killed. Israeli military operations have expanded into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands of others into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety.

Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go.

The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.

What we see today are shelters with no capacity, a health system on its knees, a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition for people already mentally and physically exhausted: a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.

The quantities of relief supplies and fuel allowed in are utterly insufficient. Despite the enormous efforts of the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies, UN agencies and other partners, the use of only the Rafah crossing – meant for pedestrians – to bring in trucks of goods does not work.

Humanitarian operations cannot be kept on a drip feed of fuel. It is the foundation of social services and our operations; including for hospitals, desalination plants, clean drinking water and sanitation.

Space for the humanitarian response allowed inside Gaza is constantly shrinking. The two most important routes – the coastal road and Salahaddin road – are now cut off to our teams and trucks, hindering our ability to help people wherever they are.

The UN and NGOs alone cannot support a population of 2.2 million. Commercial and public sectors must be allowed to bring supplies into Gaza to restock markets. This must include fuel in a manner which ensures Israel’s security.

Announcements of establishing so-called safe zones and tented cities without assurances that people will be able to move freely and that assistance can be delivered where there is need are alarming. These zones cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared.

The UN stands ready to work with all parties to expand the number of UN-managed safe shelters and to deliver assistance where it is needed.

Lynn Hastings is the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Footnote: Asked about news reports that Israel may not renew Lynn Hastings’ visa, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters December 1 : “Yes, we’ve been informed by the Israeli authorities that they would not renew the visa of Ms. Hastings past its due date at some point later this month.

As a matter of policy, we, anywhere around the world, UN people do not overstay their visas, right? I mean, that’s just a fact. I can only — and I’ve said this before — reiterate the Secretary-General’s full confidence in Ms. Hastings, the way she’s conducted herself, and the way she’s done her work. Being the Humanitarian Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is challenging work, to say the least, both in terms of the humanitarian situation and the political situation”.

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By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG & TASHKENT, Dec 5 2023 – Successful city planning, which takes place with the involvement of citizens, is the hallmark of the creation of sustainable cities, the International Conference on Demographic Resilience heard.

Katja Schafer, Inter-regional Advisor, UN Habitat, set the scene for the discussion ‘Demographic resilience: environmentally sustainable cities friendly to all categories of the population,’ by noting it was crucial to make the best use of “appropriate densities to connect people to services, their housing needs, their social needs, schooling, health facilities, and so on.”

The discussion included a reminder by Anvar Temirov, Head of the Department of Ecological Education, Scientific Research, and Implementation of Innovations, Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection, and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan, that critical to urban planning was to keep in mind ecological and environmental balances and that “the fight against climate change and the measures of mitigation are one of the priority number one agenda items these days.”

He told the audience of international parliamentarians that successful urban planning included developing safe, environmentally friendly cities to promote economic, environmental, and social sustainability that used best practices like renewable energy, pollution management (ideally zero-emission and including green buildings to reduce pollution), daylighting, and green spaces in urban planning and development, including bringing agricultural areas into the urban space so that citizens can benefit from locally produced food.

Daniel Griswold, Associate Economic Affairs Officer, UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section, agreed and told the audience of the benefits of developing long-term master plans for urban forests, which, apart from environmental benefits, also benefit the mental health of the citizens.

“Trees can reduce ambient temperatures by up to 8 degrees Celsius… It also works at the neighborhood level. If you have pockets of forests in the neighborhood, the cooling benefit can emanate into the surrounding streets and reduce heat-related deaths.”

The urban forests needed to be maintained as they could also impact crime, result in accidents, and destroy infrastructure.

But he said the benefits outweigh the costs by roughly five to one, according to research.

Iskandar Soliev, an urban planning specialist, suggested it was crucial to reduce the number of cars, prioritize pedestrian safety in cities, and improve accessibility for people with disabilities.

Retrofitting roads and streets to be more environmentally friendly had a benefit to public health, he told the audience, adding that more people have died on the roads than from COVID-19.

Mukhayo Makhmudova, Culture Programme Officer, UNESCO Uzbekistan, suggested “reusing historical buildings” so that they are not only used as tourist hubs but also for the local population.

Policymakers were encouraged to consider demographics in their urban planning, something Takhmina Turdialieva, architect and head of the Young Architect’s Association of Uzbekistan, said should also include involving the citizens.

“If citizens are involved in the process of development in the city, it will serve as an innovation lab because the whole city will be generating ideas and effective solutions foreseeing this, and by doing so, finding the good solutions will be much easier.”
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By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2023 – The language used in the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is unambiguous on its focus of the grave humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. The TPNW also recognizes the influence of the public conscience “in the furthering of the principles of humanity as evidenced by the call for total elimination of nuclear weapons”.

This public conscience has been shaped by what we know already of the consequences of nuclear testing. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the historic reasons to argue for nuclear disarmament. Decades later, the hibakusha – the term used to refer to survivors of the Japanese nuclear bombings – continue to be vocal in their pleas to world leaders to end nuclear weapon proliferation. Beyond Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the experiences in other affected regions – as represented by second- and third- generation survivors – stand as clear reminders of the intergenerational impact of nuclear testing.

While the Second Meeting of State Parties was an opportunity for member states and NGOs to support the Treaty and express solidarity with affected communities, it has been through a side-events hosted by civil society that those affected can directly testify to their own experiences. It has been through holding such events that the narratives built around nuclear survivors can be expanded, be made more inclusive.

On November 30, the International Campaign for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), along with partner organizations such as Peace Boat and Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, convened the Nuclear Survivors Forum. Hosted at the Church Center for the United Nations, the event saw people from communities around the world commiserate over their experiences with nuclear testing and their impact on their homes and communities.

Taraem Taukaro, nuclear survivors forum. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri

The forum created a space where views, ideas, and common experiences were shared, especially for communities that “rarely have such opportunities”, according to Taraem Taukaro, a youth delegate who came to the event with the Kiribati government representatives. The Republic of Kiribati has been one of several island nations in the Pacific that were impacted by nuclear tests, notably conducted by British and American military forces in the mid-20th century. The Kiritimari island, which is part of the Republic, was previously the site of multiple nuclear bombing tests between 1956 and 1962.

Taukaro’s mother, who lived through the testing, suffers from health issues which is believed to have been caused by exposure to radiation from the fallout. This exposure also resulted in health complications for the next generation, like with Taukaro’s sister, who was born deaf. It is a challenge for this family to have been impacted this way. One of the direct impacts has been that the indigenous Kiribati people that lived through the tests are afflicted with health problems and have suffered losses in their environment and biodiversity. Their descendants now contend with the same issues.

Bedi Racule, nuclear survivors forum. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri

Bedi Racule, an activist with the Pacific Conference of Churches, provided perspective on the impact of nuclear testing on the Marshall Islands and the greater South Pacific region. The US military conducted nuclear tests in the region, notably on Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1958. As Racule noted, many Pacific communities continue to feel the impact of nuclear testing, which encompass cancer, displacement, and ecological contamination.

“There is a loss of our wellbeing and our quality of life and our connection to land and ancestors and culture,” she said. “…There is a lot of pain and trauma.”

When speaking of the nuclear survivors who attended the forum, she added: “I really feel for this community, and for my people. I also want to highlight their resilience, their strength. Having vulnerability is not weakness. It is strength… I just want to commend all of these people that have stood up now and in the past for a better world that’s free of nuclear weapons. And specifically, have a nuclear-free zone, and the first nuclear-free constitution.”

For young people, there is a greater responsibility to them to educate them on the impact of nuclear testing; to contextualize the history and the way their connection to culture has shifted, including what has been lost.

Racule remarked that during the forum, there was a call from the affected communities to establish an advisory group. “The core of [the TPNW] is the humanitarian response to nuclear weapons, knowing what has happened in the past and seeking justice for that and preventing these experiences from ever being felt again by anyone.”

Taukaro remarked that the international community, including the British government, could do more to provide funding and support for medical resources and environmental clean-up, as part of the compensation towards the affected communities in Kiritimari and its neighboring islands.

Racule expressed a different view. “Among our network of nuclear justice advocates, it is very well-acknowledged that nuclear issues are intrinsically linked to issues of colonization, of self-determination,” she said. “Even our countries in the Pacific that are free and independent and sovereign, they still have trouble voicing their wants… because of geopolitical interests, because of aid donor funding. We also see this development aid as a way to come in and influence what is happening, to take away our freedom not only politically but economically, financially, socially.”

With real life testimonies from survivors and their descendants, the event was a reminder that nuclear disarmament must be effective sooner rather than later to ensure that our future generations can live in peace and pursue decent lives. The public conscience must be respectful and elevate the voices of the indigenous communities who have been disproportionately affected by nuclear testing and live through its fallout, well into the new millennium.

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By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 5 2023 – Across the African continent, many first-born children in poor and vulnerable households do not go to school as they spend their school days collecting biomass fuel. The regional average of the amount of time spent collecting firewood is 2.1 hours, robbing women and girls in particular of hundreds of hours in a year and crippling their capacities to engage in learning and productive activities.

“I was one of those children that arrived to school late every day or not at all. I grew up in Limuru, Central Kenya, near the Kinare Forest. Every day, I would rush to the forest first thing in the morning to collect the firewood needed to prepare porridge and then dash to the neighbor’s house to borrow fire,” Njambi Muigai, a climate activist and COP28 delegate, told IPS.

“I would carry a dry firewood and light it up at the neighbor’s fireplace and rush back home with the burning firewood to light our cooking place. In the evening, I would repeat the same routine. Discussions around climate, clean energy, and women’s empowerment must find space in such high-level forums if there is to be any meaningful progress towards net zero.”

Muigai was speaking on the sidelines of a session dubbed ‘Electrifying Cooking: A Just Journey Toward Net Zero’ at the ongoing COP28 Summit in Dubai, UAE. As climate change increasingly becomes the most pressing issue facing humankind today, countries are urged to pursue ambitious climate actions towards net zero—the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere by ecosystems such as oceans and forests.

Scientific evidence shows that to avert a climate catastrophe, already signaled by an increase in climate-induced disasters such as fatal floods and crippling droughts, global temperature increase needs to be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

UN’s research shows that currently, the Earth is already about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s, and emissions continue to rise. To keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C, as called for in the Paris Agreement,  emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Speaking during the event, COP28 CEO Adnan Z Amin, who also served as the founding Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, made a strong case for electrifying cooking and its place in accelerating climate action towards net zero.

“One of the major priorities for COP28 is in the broad area of energy, and within that, to increase access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. This represents an important strategy in our efforts to reach our global net-zero goal. Evidence shows that one of the most reliable paths to reaching the goal is based on electrification without decreasing the use of renewable energy,” he said.

He stressed that despite progress made towards access to electricity over the last decade, improved access to modern cooking remains overlooked. Nearly a billion people, or 940 million, in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. The rampant use of biomass for cooking has negative consequences for health, gender, climate, and the environment.

A clean cooking report shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, a staggering 29 countries have access to clean cooking at a rate below 20 percent, with half of the nearly one billion people without access to clean cooking concentrated in five countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

Indoor air pollution from biomass is one of the top 10 risks for the global burden of diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Household air pollution is responsible for an estimated 3.8 million premature deaths globally.

“This is a problem in Asia and Latin America, but the numbers are particularly concerning in Africa. Four of the five families in Africa use primitive cooking stoves made of wood. A woman spends up to four hours a day collecting firewood, and she is robbed of her time. WHO says half a million women die prematurely due to respiratory diseases caused by primitive cooking. The women cook while pregnant, which affects health in the womb, and they cook with babies on their backs, causing lung problems for the babies,” said Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.

“Europe is a neighbor of Africa; in my culture and in many of our cultures, neighbors help each other in times of trouble. I cannot believe that these numbers are unfolding in front of our eyes. This, to me, is the most important gender issue, a big injustice that can easily be solved.”

“Not only are half a million women dying prematurely in Africa alone from biomass pollution as they walk long distances in search of firewood, but they also have to cross borders and contested territories, placing them in harm’s way.

“If half a million people were dying per year in war, we know what we would do, and this is happening every single year. For me, coming from the global south and being an African woman, it is even more depressing because it is as if the world is saying that because they are dying in Africa, it is not as important as if they were dying in another part of the world. There are all these social aspects that determine how we move forward.”

Nigeria’s Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Chief Executive Officer for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair UN-Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, said that “if half a million people were dying in a war, we would know what to do, and this is happening every single year.”

Observing that coming from the global south and being “an African woman, it is even more depressing because it is as if the world is saying that it is not as important as if they were dying in another part of the world. There are all these social aspects that determine how we move forward.”

She spoke about prevailing misconceptions about the source of harmful emissions. An analysis of Nigeria shows that despite the 45 gigawatts of diesel and petrol generated, the biggest emissions are actually from the cooking sector. Stressing that clean cooking is as important, if not more important than electrification, as it buys women time to engage productively in society, lifts people out of poverty, and accelerates the growth of a country’s GDP.

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By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 5 2023 – Women bear the brunt of the climate crisis, and inclusion at both the highest level and in the community is key to mitigating its impact. Today, the announcement of the COP28 Gender Responsive Just Transitions and Climate Action Partnership put women at the centre of climate solutions—with a collective endorsement that symbolized a paradigm shift in global commitment.

Gender Equality Day at COP28 saw ministers and high-level officials convene for a high-level dialogue to advance gender-responsive just transitions to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement. During the event that Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, a UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, was leading, the COP28 Presidency announced the new partnership.

During the panel discussions on its importance, in which many distinguished world leaders participated, Dr Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment for the Republic of Rwanda, painted a poignant picture of the intersectionality between climate change and gender. She emphasized the requirement of the Paris Agreement to create high-quality jobs.

“The harsh reality is that women, constituting the majority of humanity, bear the brunt of climate change impacts. There are dire consequences of climate change being faced by my own country, Rwanda, grappling with floods and untimely rains, rendering streets impassable and schools inaccessible,” Mujawamariya told the conference.

The Minister underscored the urgent need to build a resilient future for women, urging investments in education, decision-making positions, and gender-responsive financial mechanisms.

“When a woman is a victim, the entire family suffers,” she added.

Sigrid Kaag, the Minister of Finance for the Netherlands, asserted that the catalyst for genuine change lay in anchoring climate action and gender-responsive budgeting. Kaag made it unequivocally clear that this was not merely an environmental concern but a matter of fundamental rights, underscoring the gravity of the agenda at hand.

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, the co-chair of C40 cities, brought the municipal lens into the discourse. Speaking on behalf of nearly 100 cities, she expressed the collective engagement of mayors in the lives of their residents, over 50 percent of whom were female. Aki-Sawyer detailed the Women for Climate initiative, a testament to the proactive involvement of women in finding solutions to climate challenges. However, she acknowledged the systemic hurdles, emphasizing the need for dedicated spaces and resources to enable women to develop and implement these solutions.

Andrew Mitchell, the Minister of State in the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, injected an international development imperative into the dialogue.

“It is vital that we promote gender equality to ensure that this is a just and effective transition. We know that when women participate in the management of natural resources, it results in better governance and conservation, and when they are better represented in national parliaments, tougher climate change policies tend to be adopted. The evidence is clear, yet women are not given the chance to play their part. Women suffer disproportionately from climate change and conflict,” Andrew said. His call to endorse the gender-responsive pledge served as a rallying cry to collectively ascend the metaphorical mountain of challenges that lay ahead.

Celeste Drake, Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), took the stage, weaving a narrative around the ILO’s birth from conflict and its steadfast commitment to social justice.

Drake elucidated the profound impact of climate change on women and work, projecting statistics that forewarned of substantial job losses due to heat stress.

“ILO estimates that by 2030, more than 2 percent of the total working time will be lost because of heat stress. It is equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs. We need to create more inclusive jobs for our women and girls. The ILO estimates that effective climate policies could create, by 2035, about 12 million jobs in Nigeria and 50 million jobs in America.

But the question is, will those jobs be available to men and women equally? Will these jobs be gender responsive?” Drake asked. Drake dissected the complexities of women’s compounded inequalities in the labor market, emphasizing the need for intentional, gender-responsive transitions. She called for dismantling barriers and proactively ensuring that women had active access to training, skilling, and reskilling.

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By Lilit Gasparyan
YEREVAN, Armenia, Dec 5 2023 – Every evening, the smell of Indian food takes over Yerevan’s northwestern district of Halabian. Indian workers who left early in the morning are back home.

“We work in construction,’’ Sahil, 23, tells IPS from the yard of a humble one-storey house. He left his family in Punjab – a state in northern India- two and a half months before, bound for Yerevan with two other friends.

The analyst points to “fundamental differences” between foreigners and locals. “It’s about faith, culture, mentality, lifestyle… Besides, our society is also a very conservative one. I think integrating will be difficult for them”

“We heard there was a high demand for labour and that the pay is good. We get 5000 AMD a day (US$12,5). In India, you can live comfortably with that money,” says Sahil.

However, considering the minimal consumer basket is around US$200 one can barely get by with such a salary.

“We all share rooms and cut costs to a minimum. That way I can send at least $150 to my family in India every month,” explains Sahil, before stressing that he has a work permit from the Migration Service of Armenia.

Armenia has become a popular destination for Indian people seeking work opportunities. According to the Migration Service of Armenia, more than 37.000 Indians entered Armenia only in the first nine months of 2023.

20-year-old Koma Mera works as a cleaner in one of Yerevan’s most popular gyms for $12,5 a day. “I have three sisters and one brother. I miss them a lot, but we had financial problems, so I’m here now,” Koma tells IPS sitting on her bunk bed, just after she had spoken to her mother on a video call.

After paying the rent for the accommodation and covering the household expenses, she sends the remaining money to India so that her younger siblings “do not miss anything back home.”

“Living in other countries would be too expensive, so I came to Armenia. It’s a great country for making money, that’s why you find so many Indians here. When I see them in the streets I feel I’m not alone,” adds the young migrant.

Nonetheless, Koma believes things would be easier if the locals changed their attitude towards them.

“There are good people here, but also those who are rude to us,” she explains. “When I sit down at work, they make such a face to tell me that I must keep working. Moreover, Armenians do not sit at the table with us during the lunch break,” says the Indian woman.

An Indian man prepares a meal in the kitchen of his apartment in Yerevan, Armenia, shared with fellow Indians. Typically, they head out for labor work early in the morning, returning around 8 pm. Credit: Lilit Gasparyan/IPS

Low-paid and low-skilled

Nested in the Caucasus region, Armenia is a tiny and almost mono-ethnic country with a population of about 3 million. According to the latest population census (2011), only 2% belong to other ethnic groups, such as Yezidis and Assyrians.

Nonetheless, the picture might be different after the 2022 census is finally released, revealing the increase in the number of foreigners receiving residence status. According to the Statistical Committee’s data, figures almost doubled in just one year, reaching more than 16,000 people as of 2022.

In conversation with IPS, Migration Service of Armenia officials disclosed that only this year 2,100 Indian citizens have applied to get residence status based on work activity in Armenia.

A flexible visa regime since 2017 has opened the country to foreigners, with students opening the path mainly due to the low cost of university studies. Workers followed suit and, today, Indians are the second biggest group after Russians and before Iranians.

But the labour market is small. The Statistical Committee of Armenia´s data from 2022 revealed that about 13 % of the labour force is unemployed.

20-year-old Koma Mera talks to her mother in her rented room in Yerevan. She is one of the 2,100 Indian citizens who, as per the Armenian Migration Service, have applied for residence status based on work activity in Armenia. Credit: Lilit Gasparyan/IPS

During a briefing with journalists on November 20 in the National Assembly of Armenia’s Minister of Economy, Vahan Kerobyan, said that Indian migrants in Armenia are mostly low-paid, low-skilled professionals and mainly work in construction, agriculture, and services.

“I came from Gegharkunik Province (eastern part of Armenia) to work in construction here in Yerevan. I´m ready to work for 10,000 AMD per day but the employer says he can hire an Indian man twice as cheap for the same job,” Narek, an Armenian man in his 50s who didn´t want to disclose his identity told IPS.

From his office in downtown Yerevan, political scientist and analyst Vigen Hakobyan shares his take with IPS.

“All four sides of Yerevan are under construction, hence the high demand for workers in the sector since last year. Armenians generally refuse to do that work because they say that the pay is low’’ explains the expert.

“They (Indians) also drive taxis, make deliveries and clean. Most of them return to India after earning money. Nonetheless, Armenians have the impression that foreigners have entered their homes and have no intention of leaving. There’s a certain level of mistrust towards them,” stresses Hakobyan.

The analyst points to “fundamental differences” between foreigners and locals. “It’s about faith, culture, mentality, lifestyle… Besides, our society is also a very conservative one. I think integrating will be difficult for them,” concludes the analyst.

Deepali Shah paints mehendi on a girl’s hand. What was once a hobby has become a source of income for her. Credit: Lilit Gasparyan/IPS

A feel of home

This surge of Indian migrants has also paved the way for scammers and human traffickers. There have been reports of individuals being offered fake jobs in Western countries before getting stranded in Armenia.

However, things are very different when people can travel safely, rely on a decent job and enjoy stability.

It’s already seven years since Parangesh Shah and Deepali, an Indian couple in their late 40s, arrived in Armenia. Parangesh, a diamond processing specialist, was transferred to the Caucasus country by his company in India.

“We didn’t even know where Armenia was. We hadn’t heard about this country before,” Deepali tells IPS from her Indian-style home.

She has set up a small business out of her hobby in Armenia. She makes traditional Indian drawings on the skin with henna. They are called “mehendi”, and their price ranges from $2,5 to $125 depending on the volume and complexity of the work.

“When I came here, I made a mehendi on the hand of one of my friends. I posted a picture of it on social media. Soon after, many girls contacted me and asked me to draw beautiful mehendis on their hands. Now I have many clients, and mostly Armenians,” she says.

A lot has changed during their years in Armenia. Today, they are even invited to local weddings and dance to traditional songs. The couple says they could have never imagined that Armenia would become a “little India” for them.

“It’s so beautiful here! Besides, Indians work in shops, deliver food, do home repairs…” says Deepali. “It almost feels like being back home”.

By Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Dec 5 2023 – If I asked you to name the world’s most deadly diseases I’m guessing that you might say HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera, maybe even COVID-19. In fact, those have all been major killers throughout human history – and some like TB continue to be so, especially in low-income countries.

But there is one group of diseases that is responsible for the deaths of more than two-thirds of people on earth. Let that sink in for moment. For every three people who die, two are killed by these illnesses, which are known as non-communicable diseases, or NCDs.

You probably know about many of them. NCDs include cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and strokes, lung diseases and mental and neurological illnesses. As the name implies, what sets NCDs apart is that they cannot be passed from one person to another.

Today we’re speaking with Maisha Hutton, executive director of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, about the growing impact of NCDs on that region. For example, they are responsible for 80% of deaths in the Caribbean, and 40% of all premature deaths. Before COVID-19, one in three children in the region was overweight or obese – a major contributor to developing NCDs — which is one of the highest rates in the world; it might be even higher now, says Maisha.

Besides describing what NCDs look like in the Caribbean and what societies there are doing to tackle the epidemic, Maisha explains why it’s not fair, or correct, to label NCDs as ‘lifestyle diseases’. That’s because the environments where people live have been carefully designed to promote NCD risk factors including alcohol and tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diets.

A quick note about some terms that Maisha mentions: PAHO is the Pan American Health Organization. GDA, traffic light, and octagonal — or stop sign — are different types of warning labels for food packages. GDA stands for guideline daily amount (or guideline daily allowance).

By Gordon Brown and Yasmine Sherif
London/New York, Dec 5 2023 – “The one international language the world understands” wrote Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, “is the cry of a child,” and the evidence is accumulating that children are not only the innocent victims of conflict whose pleas need to be heard, but also the most vulnerable victims of climate change.

The climate crisis is an education crisis. Right here, right now, climate change is robbing millions of children and adolescents of their right to learn, their right to play and their right to feel safe and secure.

In Pakistan deadly floods destroyed or damaged over 26,000 schools last year. This exposed over 600,000 adolescent girls to higher risks of school dropout, gender-based violence, and child marriage. In Ethiopia, girls like Mellion are going hungry and risk dropping out of school forever as a result of the ongoing drought.

While the climate crisis threatens the rights of every person on the planet, those who are enduring the brunt of its impact are the most vulnerable girls and boys already living in protracted crises settings due to armed conflicts, forced displacement and other crises. For them and their communities, climate change is already a daunting reality that can mean the difference between life and death, between war and peace, between the chance to learn or not.

Today, there are more than 224 million crisis-impacted children worldwide who urgently need education support. New analysis by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, hosted by UNICEF, has found that 62 million of these children have been impacted by climate hazards such as droughts, floods, cyclones and other extreme weather events since 2020. That’s close to the total populations of several G7 nations such as the United Kingdom, France or Italy.

While these children have contributed least to the issue of climate change, they have the most to lose. Furthermore, over the last ten years, 31 million school-aged children have been displaced by the climate crisis, with 13 million in the last three years alone.

The climate crisis poses a real and present threat to global security, economic prosperity and the very fabric of our societies. Climate impacts could cost the world economy US$7.9 trillion by 2050, according to the World Bank, and could force up to 216 million people to move within their own countries by 2050.

Cyclones, typhoons, floods and droughts are increasing in severity and intensity. The number of disasters driven, in part, by climate change has increased five-fold in the past 50 years. Climate hazards are driving displacement directly, but also driving competition over scarce resources and threatening fragile peace in many parts of the world. Over 70% of refugees and internally displaced people on the move due to conflict and violence originally came from climate change hotspots.

Taken together, these intersecting crises of climate change, displacement and conflict are having a profound effect on education opportunities for millions of children and adolescents around the world.

As we look at this year’s Climate Talks in Dubai (COP28) and the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, we must connect the dots between climate action and education action. It’s our investment in our people, our planet and our future.

To rise to this challenge, ECW is calling on donors, the private sector and other key partners to urgently mobilize US$150 million in additional resources. This is an important contribution towards ECW’s overall resource mobilization target of US$1.5 billion toward the Fund’s 2023-2026 strategic plan.

We all know that education has a sound return on investment. Long-term investments in human capital – including education, skills training and overall health and well-being – offer 10 times more return on investment than investments in physical capital. By investing in education today, we are investing in economic and social prosperity tomorrow, we are investing in an end to displacement and hunger, we are investing in a better world and children’s futures.

The climate crisis threatens to end human civilization as we know it today. Now is our time to address this issue head on, and education plays a key role. By ensuring learning continuity for the most vulnerable children – and connecting quality education with climate action – we can equip an entire generation of climate stewards with the skills to adapt to the changing environment and pave the way to a better future.

In the eye of the storm, we are calling on new and existing donors to stand with us. We are appealing to you to act: right here, right now. Will you take up this challenge?

The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown is the UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Steering Group.

Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

IPS UN Bureau

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