Analysis

Views on the News – 1 Aug 2018

Headlines:

  • Aid Groups found Guilty of Sexual Exploitation in Government Report
  • Imran Khan Wins Elections as Storm Clouds Gather
  • 4 Million Muslims Made Stateless

Aid Groups found Guilty of Sexual Exploitation in Government Report

The report published by the International Development Committee on sexual exploitation in the charity sector has given a damning verdict. The report highlighted widespread sexual abuse and exploitation was an “open secret” and historically the sector’s response to the issue had been “one of complacency, verging on complicity”. The report was triggered by a slew of national newspaper stories about sexual exploitation of staff and beneficiaries at aid charities, beginning in February 2018 with a report in The Times that alleged Oxfam staff members had employed local women as prostitutes in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. The report, published on 31 July 2018 also criticised the UN, which it said had failed to display sustained leadership in tackling abuse, and said the historical response of the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) was disappointing. Imperial tendencies have been the quality of the international aid scene for decades which has been veiled with a moral and charitable disguise. Underneath this apparently noble quest, there lies an underworld of exploitation of the most vulnerable people in the world. Far from ‘non-governmental’ charities, like Oxfam, receiving millions from the British government, these charities are very much in direct cooperation with governments that direct their activity and agendas.

 

Imran Khan Wins Elections as Storm Clouds Gather

Euphoria has gripped Pakistan as former Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tereekh-e-Insaf (PTI) party decimated the established political parties in Pakistan 13th general election.  The world’s media all watched as the results trickled in showing the old pillars who have dominated the country’s political system seem to have fallen to the Tsunami Imran Khan always spoke about. In his victory speech Imran Khan said: “When I came into politics, I wanted Pakistan to become the kind of country that our leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted. Where Pakistan is standing right now, I am telling you that we will run Pakistan like it has never been run before. Thank god we have been successful and got a mandate.” The euphoria will be challenged immediately as the government finances are in a dire state. Already reports are tickling out that the Khan government will turn to the IMF for up to $15 billion in loans to starve off economic collapse.

 

4 Million Muslims Made Stateless

India has published a list which effectively strips about four million Muslims in the north-eastern state of Assam of their citizenship. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of people who can prove they came to the state by 24 March 1971, a day before neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence. India says the process is needed to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants. But it has sparked fears of a witch hunt against Assam’s ethnic minorities. Fearing violence, officials say that no one will face immediate deportation. They say that a lengthy appeal process will be available to all – even if it means millions of families will live in limbo until they get a final decision on their legal status. Activists highlighted the NRC is now being used as a pretext for a two-pronged attack – by Hindu nationalists and Assamese hardliners – on the state’s Bengali community, who are Muslims.