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	Five million Somalis now food insecure by Reliefweb, OHCHR, Civicus, agencies Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council   Sep 2016   Five million Somalis – more than 40 per cent of the country’s population – do not have sufficient food, according to a new assessment report released this week. This includes over 300,000 children under five who are acutely malnourished, including more than 50,000 children who are severely malnourished and more vulnerable than any other group.   The latest numbers represent an increase of 300,000 people who are food insecure since the last review in February 2016.   “Humanitarian partners are ready to scale up response to help families struggling to find food to make it through the day,” said Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.   “The Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016 is 32 per cent funded and additional resources are urgently required to boost response and on-going efforts to sustainably address malnutrition and access to food, including support to comprehensive durable solutions.”   According to the FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), more than 1.1 million people cannot meet their daily food requirements today, while another 3.9 million Somalis require livelihood support to reduce the risk of sliding into crisis.   The food and nutrition situation particularly affects the estimated 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are highly vulnerable to natural hazards, disease outbreaks, exploitation and abuse, some displaced multiple times during the past two decades.   An estimated 58 per cent of people who are acutely food insecure are internally displaced, many living in appalling conditions in settlements spread throughout the country, facing the continuous risk of forced evictions, discrimination, violation of children’s rights and pervasive gender-based violence.   Efforts to reduce levels of vulnerabilities continue to be undermined by irregular weather patterns which have influenced the food and nutrition situation.   http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/five-million-somalis-now-food-insecure   Feb 2016   In Somalia, food security and malnutrition situation is ''alarming'' – UN report   According to a new United Nations food security and nutrition assessment, the situation in Somalia is alarming and could get worse, especially in parts of Puntland and Somaliland, which have been hard hit by drought exacerbated by El Niño.   “We are deeply concerned that the proportion of severely food insecure people remains alarmingly high, especially people who are unable to meet their daily food needs. Some 3.7 million people will be acutely food insecure through mid-2016. With severe drought conditions intensifying in Puntland and Somaliland, many more people risk relapsing into crisis,” said Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, in a press release.   Produced by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and in collaboration with Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the report says the situation is critical and could get worse.   This latest assessment confirms persistently high and alarming levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in Somalia, with an estimated 4.7 million people – nearly 40 per cent of the Somali population – in need of humanitarian assistance.   Nearly 950,000 of these people are acutely food insecure and struggle every day to meet their food needs. Internally displaced people make up more than two thirds, or 68 per cent, of acutely food insecure people and are in dire need of assistance.   “The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five years acutely malnourished. We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated. The drought could push these numbers higher in the months to come. We must act now. Partners are ready to scale up response, but funding is urgently needed to ensure this is done in a timely manner,” Mr. de Clercq added.   Jan 2016   Counter-Terrorism measures threaten money sent home by Somali Diaspora, by Ben Emmerson, Philip Alston, Bahame Nyanduga.   The vital flow of remittances from diaspora countries into Somalia is under threat as a result of necessary, but inadequately thought-through counter-terrorism measures.   United Nations human rights experts have warned that the measures risk severely affecting the human rights of the people of Somalia, and have urged the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Somalia to ensure that such remittances continue to flow.   There have been many recent reports of Somali diaspora having difficulties in sending remittances back home, in part because commercial banks in sending countries are closing the bank accounts of Somali money transfer operators (MTOs), in response to important, but stringent domestic and international regulations to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.   “Remittances are an essential lifeline for Somalis and the closure of MTO bank accounts risks further impoverishing an already desperate population,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, said. “Somalis living abroad have little option but to use MTOs to transfer money home in the absence of a formal banking system in Somalia."   Somalia has a large diaspora living in foreign countries after decades of chaos and civil strife in the country. The Somali diaspora is estimated to send at least $ 1.2 billion per year in remittances to family members and friends in Somalia. That represents at least 20 per cent of the country’s GDP and is more than the total amount of foreign aid that Somalia receives.   “A decrease in remittances to Somalia may severely affect the human rights of people living in the country,” Mr. Alston said, noting that most of the money is used by families to cover basic household expenses, such as food, clothing, education, and medical care, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).   “The human rights to adequate food, to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and even the right to life could be at stake, as remittances decrease,” he warned.   After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States and other countries strengthened their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regulations and their enforcement. While such regulations are clearly necessary according to the United Nations experts, their perhaps unintended consequence has been that various commercial banks have responded to the increased regulatory risks and burdens of the regulations by refusing to do business with Somali MTOs altogether because they are considered too high-risk.   “While these regulations fulfill entirely legitimate objectives, their impact on the human rights of Somalis should be proportionate to those objectives,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, said.   “The Somali expatriates that send money home on a regular basis, and the millions of friends and family members in Somalia who ultimately depend on them, should not have to suffer for the limited number of cases in which remittances have ended up in the wrong hands,” Mr. Emmerson stressed.   “Governments have a duty to ensure that their laws provide an environment conducive to business respect for human rights,” noted human rights expert Dante Pesce, who currently heads the United Nations Working Group on business and human rights. “Despite several praiseworthy initiatives by governments involved, there appears to be a need for additional measures to safeguard the flow of remittances.”   The United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Bahame Nyanduga, also made a special appeal to the Somali authorities: “The Government of Somalia, despite the constraints it faces, can also do more to develop its banking system, including by more adequate monitoring and oversight of the Somali banking sector.”   “At the end of the day, all governments concerned have a duty to make sure that legitimate funds can continue to flow to the people of Somalia, whose livelihoods stand to suffer if these remittances are curtailed.   This could undermine the political and economic stabilization process which has been painstakingly built in the last few years, a process which also hinges on the Somali people having confidence in a growing economy,” Mr. Nyanduga said.   The mandate-holders have been in contact with the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Somalia to raise their concern and seek clarification about this situation.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/SRExtremePovertyIndex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Terrorism/Pages/SRTerrorismIndex.aspx http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/885-million-needed-humanitarian-aid-somalia   More than 50 Organizations ask U.S. Treasury, State for Help with Access to Banking Services. (Civicus)   On February 25, 2016, 58 nonprofit organizations (NPOs), including umbrella groups with more than 300 member organizations, sent a letter to the U.S. Departments of Treasury and State asking them to convene a multi-stakeholder dialogue as part of a broader effort to ensure that registered, law-abiding NPOs are able to access the global financial system. The signatories to this letter represent more than $8.3 billion annually in humanitarian aid and services to the world’s most needy.   As banks face significant regulation and the threat of heavy fines for noncompliance in the anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing arena, their appetite for risk has diminished. Without positive incentives to offer services to NPOs, banks’ risk-reward calculation will continue to be weighted towards dropping clients they perceive as high-risk.   The impact of this “de-risking” trend on NPOs is significant. Increasingly, these groups find it difficult to access the financial services necessary to provide life-saving aid to people in global hot spots where the need is greatest. Banks may delay, or refuse to make, transfers between organizations. Sometimes, NPOs are turned away as customers or have their accounts closed. For example, one charity was unable to pay for fuel needed to supply power to a hospital in Syria because of the banks’ lengthy delays in transmitting funds. More recently, aid to refugees streaming into Europe was impacted by a charity’s inability to make international wire transfers.   The U.S. government has said that banks should not “de-risk” but that policy has not been translated into concrete action or regulatory standards that remove current disincentives for banks to provide services to international NPOs. As a result, money will be taken out of transparent, regulated channels, making life more difficult for legitimate NPOs and easier for terrorist financiers.   U.S. banking laws and policies have a global impact. This is evidenced by the large number of foreign NPOs who have signed the letter, explained Kay Guinane, director of the Charity & Security Network. In addition, many nonprofits around the world carry out work funded by U.S. government or UN grants. “Finding a solution to the problem should be a priority for Treasury and State, in order to support U.S. foreign policy goals,” Guinane noted.   http://www.civicus.org/index.php/en/media-centre-129/news-and-resources-127/2365-more-than-50-organizations-ask-u-s-treasury-state-for-help-with-access-to-banking-services Visit the related web page
	2016: A year for justice by Salil Shetty Amnesty International   Feb. 2016   Amnesty International Report 2015/2016   Your rights in jeopardy: The year that saw a global assault on people’s basic freedoms, with many governments brazenly breaking international law and deliberately undermining institutions meant to protect people’s rights.   International protection of human rights is in danger of unravelling as short-term national self-interest and draconian security crackdowns have led to a wholesale assault on basic freedoms and rights, warned Amnesty International as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.   “Your rights are in jeopardy: they are being treated with utter contempt by many governments around the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   “Millions of people are suffering enormously at the hands of states and armed groups, while governments are shamelessly painting the protection of human rights as a threat to security, law and order or national ‘values’.”   Amnesty International is warning of an insidious and creeping trend undermining human rights which has come from governments deliberately attacking, underfunding or neglecting institutions that have been set up to help protect our rights.   “Not only are our rights under threat, so are the laws and the system that protect them. More than 70 years of hard work and human progress lies at risk,” said Salil Shetty.   The United Nations’ human rights bodies, the International Criminal Court, and regional mechanisms such as the Council of Europe and the Inter American Human Rights system, are being undermined by governments attempting to evade oversight of their domestic records.   Amnesty International is calling on governments to politically support and fully fund systems that exist to uphold international law and to protect people’s rights.   Amnesty International has documented how many governments have brazenly broken international law in 2015 in their national contexts: more than 122 states tortured or otherwise ill-treated people and 30 or more illegally forced refugees to return to countries where they would be in danger. In at least 19 countries, war crimes or other violations of the “laws of war” were committed by governments or armed groups.   It is also warning of a worrying trend among governments increasingly targeting and attacking activists, lawyers and others who work to defend human rights.   “Instead of recognizing the crucial role these people play in society, many governments have deliberately set out to strangle criticism in their country. They have broken their own laws in their crackdowns against citizens,” said Salil Shetty.   Amnesty International says this has partly been down to the reaction of many governments to evolving security threats in 2015.   “The misguided reaction of many governments to national security threats has been the crushing of civil society, the right to privacy and the right to free speech; and outright attempts to make human rights dirty words, packaging them in opposition to national security, law and order and ‘national values’. Governments have even broken their own laws in this way,” said Salil Shetty.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2016/02/annual-report-201516/   Jan. 2015   It can sometimes feel as though our world is spinning off its axis. Conflict is escalating, fuelling the largest global refugee crisis since the Second World War. Discrimination against minority groups is rampant. Repressive regimes are ruthlessly cracking down on people who stand up for human rights.   We cannot hide the reality of the world we live in. But we can fight for the world we want.   This year, let’s join with people across the world who are rising in protest. Let’s say to our governments that 2016 is the year for justice.   Let’s tell them that they cannot talk about free speech and at the same time arrest peaceful protesters and dissenters. They cannot lecture about peace while being the world’s largest manufacturers of arms. And they cannot preach about human rights while denying refugees safe and legal ways to seek sanctuary abroad.   Whenever and wherever governments fail us, we must hold them to account. We must stand together and make sure no-one is left behind.   We have influence – let’s use it. We want justice – let’s make it happen in 2016.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/12/50-ways-you-changed-lives-in-2015/ http://bit.ly/2glCVVR http://bit.ly/2gwAJdl http://bit.ly/2fCIxcA http://bit.ly/2gwlMf6 Visit the related web page
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