CID Weekly: Vaccine Passports & inequality, plus upcoming advocacy trainings

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+ Vaccine roll out dashboard 

+ Vaccine passports could increase inequality

Restrictions on people’s movements based on whether they have received a COVID-19 vaccine are heightening concerns about inequities that have already been revealed or exacerbated by the pandemic, writes Andrew Green at Devex.

• Most people in the global south have not even been offered a vaccine
• Of the 841 million vaccine doses that had been administered by last week, only 0.1% had gone to people in low-income countries.

Blocking unvaccinated people from having access to goods and knowledge, while people from higher-income countries get a jumpstart on recovery, will only exacerbate the global divide between rich and poorer countries.

It potentially creates an 'apartheid' within countries too, with unvaccinated people being barred from restaurants, shops, gyms, and public spaces

"It could also fuel a rise in efforts to fake the passports, like the underground market in counterfeit yellow fever certificates that exists in Nigeria’s Lagos airport, where fake cards cost as little as $8.50," reports Devex.

Some are calling for vaccine passports to be rejected. Others point to the yellow-fever vaccinations required by some countries (with the distinctive yellow cards) which has worked well. But only because the yellow-fever vaccine - unlike the COVID vaccine -  is easily available to most people.

 

+ India in lockdown after COVID surge

India's capital, Delhi, has announced a week-long lockdown after a record spike in cases overwhelmed the city's healthcare system, reports the BBC.
 

One in three people in Delhi is testing positive. 

+ Australian ministers to visit NZ 

The New Zealand-Australian travel bubble will allow the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator the Hon Zed Seselja, to visit New Zealand from 21-23 April.

The first trip in over a year was announced by press release this week. 

"The Foreign Minister Consultations will include a strong focus on furthering trans-Tasman cooperation to promote our shared interests in an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Minister Payne and Minister Mahuta will .. discuss steps to strengthen COVID-19 support for our Pacific neighbours, including in relation to our respective vaccine programs, and our response to the broader economic and health impacts of the pandemic."

According to the release, the minister will also meet with business and civil society leaders. 

 

+ Crisis in Tigray worsens

The humanitarian disaster is worsening in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where military conflict has affected millions of people, according to Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme.

There are escalating needs and increasing sexual violence, and aid workers still cannot access many areas in the region.

+ USAID - localisation a new priority

Samantha Power, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama, is determined to reasserts the USA's  role as a humanitarian leader on the world stage, and to devolve development to local communities, reports Michael Igoe at Devex.

Before working in the Obama administration, she rose to prominence as a journalist and scholar of genocide prevention — and gained a reputation as an advocate for humanitarian intervention. 

She recently framed U.S. development engagement around “four interconnected and gargantuan challenges” that overlap with key Biden administration priorities: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflict and state collapse, and democratic backsliding.

She believes development should operate with an emphasis on “political freedom” for “broad-based economic growth” and “driven by those on the ground with local knowledge and expertise.”

 

+ Welcome to our new Affiliate Member - Reemi

The CID Board has recently approved Reemi's affiliate membership application, and we welcome them to the CID Whānau.

Reemi Charitable Trust aims to raise the educational standards and relieve poverty in developing countries (as recognised by the United Nations) through; the provision of education and resources for women’s health and sanitation through; educational resources and workshops; health services and resources relating to women’s health and sanitation; the operation of a social enterprise trading in women’s health products, where any surplus is returned to the business or supports charitable purposes; and the provision of advice and advocacy in pursuit of charitable purposes.

The provision of these services are in New Zealand and in developing countries (as recognised by the United Nations). Reemi Charitable Trust is currently operating in New Zealand and Bangladesh.

We are very excited about having Reemi as a part of the CID whānau, and look forward to more engagement with them in the sector!

+ UnionAID rally in support of people of Myanmar

On 1 May a rally is being held in Aotea Square, Auckland in solidarity with the brave striking workers and activists in Myanmar.  UnionAID and the Democracy for Myanmar group are hosting the event to send a message of support to people in Myanmar.

More information available here

+ New Anti-Slavery Report Highlights need for Modern Slavery Act

Climate change and environmental destruction have profound implications for human rights and are driving vulnerability to modern slavery, says a new report. People who are already among the most vulnerable are particularly hard-hit. Climate action needs to happen fast, but it also needs to be participatory and fair. 'We need a Just Transition – an integrated social, economic and environmental response that will build resilience to climate change and modern slavery, says the report.

These are the findings of Anti-Slavery International’s and Dublin City University’s new report: 'From A  Vicious to a Virtuous Circle – Addressing climate change, environmental destruction and contemporary slavery'.

The research highlights the importance of a rights-based approach to tackling these intertwined and complex issues.

The report can be viewed here.

This report has been released as World Vision and Trade Aid, with the support of CID members, lead the Sign for Freedom campaign. Signatures for the petition can be collected via this link.

+ LAST CHANCE - Nominations for CID Code Committee 

CID is looking for a new Member Representative for the Code of Conduct Committee, for a period of two (2) years (renewable) from May 2021 - May 2023.

Please submit your nomination to Aaron Davy by COP Friday, 30th April or if you require further information, including a copy of the Code of Conduct Committee ToR and nomination form. 

+ Fiji on high alert after COVID cases

Nadi and Lautoka are now on lockdown as a soldier and a hotel worker tested positive for Covid-19 last weekend, reports RNZ.

Close contacts of the cases are being tested.

 

+ Samoan election still undecided

"After 23 years with one political party and one prime minister in charge, Samoa’s general election last weekend delivered a surprise neck-and-neck result.

But it was barely reported in most national media outlets here. How come? And what might improve the situation?" writes Hayden Donnell in MediaWatch RNZ.

Also - click here to watch John Campbell's interview with opposition party FAST's leader, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.
 

+ The Myth of Veneration: Prince Philip & Tanna

Further to mention of the Vanuatu-based cargo cult 'worshipping' Prince Philip, Scott Hamilton writes that "far from worshipping their former colonial masters, by proudly appropriating and indigenising a piece of British culture the Tannese are asserting their own mana". 

The coverage of the Prince Philip Movement says more about the west than it does about Tanna. The Tannese do not consider their island remote; for them, it is the centre of the world. They are not in awe of Britain; they struggled for decades to win independence from the Union Jack. And they do not consider Prince Philip either white or a god. 

+ PIANGO supports West Papua

The Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, PIANGO supported the call from three of its members for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to be allowed membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

The call comes ahead of an MSG Summit on April 21 and after increased human rights abuse of indigenous people by Indonesian security forces in Papua.

+ Outbound travel restricted from Efate 

All travel out of Vanuatu's main island, Efate, has been stopped after it was discovered that the deceased Filipino fisherman whose dead body washed up on a beach last week was positive for COVID-19. The Police who handled the body are in quarantine, and UK-flagged tanker was detained.