By Thokozani Dlamini
PRETORIA, South Africa, Mar 21 2025 – World Water Day, celebrated on March 22 every year, raises awareness about the importance of water and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme for 2025 focuses on glaciers — those grandiose ice masses that are a crucial part of the world’s water resources.

In this article, we explore the critical need for glacier preservation, how they help conserve the water, and how we can act together to protect these beautiful natural wonders.

The Importance of Glaciers

Glaciers, often called “nature’s water towers,” are vital freshwater resources for billions of people around the world. These gigantic ice chunks span multiple continents, containing about 69% of the world’s freshwater.

Glaciers, which are gradually melting because of rising global temperatures, also provide critical freshwater that sustains rivers and lakes, helping to support a range of ecosystems as well as drinking water supplies for people.

These glaciers have historically served as an important water source for diverse uses such as irrigation, reliable water supply, ecosystem services and drought mitigation, especially in regions reliant on meltwater

In areas like the Himalayas, Andes and Alaska, glacier meltwater flow is critical in maintaining agriculture, hydropower generation and daily life in dry seasons. But the pace of glacier retreat is alarming, and this natural storehouse of ice is under threat, an indication that this crucial source of fresh water is becoming less secure in a changing climate.

The Impact of glaciers on Water Resources

Glaciers are natural water towers that release meltwater, particularly important in areas that rely on this water for agriculture, drinking and sanitation after snowmelt, providing communities in the warmer months.

And without that seasonal glacier melt, much of the place would be in deep trouble. Glaciers in and of themselves influence weather: they control the local climate.

They reflect sunlight, which helps maintain cooler temperatures and mitigate climate change. Moreover, numerous plant and animal species depend directly on glacial environments, or downstream systems fuelled by glacial runoff. Consequently, conserving glacial zones is crucial for future species diversity.

Glaciers in the SADC Region

Glaciers in SADC include those found on Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), on the Drakensberg Mountains (South Africa and Lesotho), on Mafadi Peak (South Africa), and on the Maloti Range (Lesotho) and Ras De Gallo Range (Mozambique).

These glaciers have historically served as an important water source for diverse uses such as irrigation, reliable water supply, ecosystem services and drought mitigation, especially in regions reliant on meltwater. As climate change intensifies, it forces the retreat of these glaciers, this raises concerns of a water crisis in the SADC countries that depend on these vital natural resources.

The Threats to Glaciers

Climate Change and Human Impacts — Glaciers are in trouble. Global temperatures have risen steadily, driving an accelerated melt of glaciers. The Himalayan glaciers could lose as much as three-quarters of their mass this century unless action on climate change is taken immediately, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Black carbon and industrial pollutions deposit on the surface of glaciers, which decreases the albedo effect (reflectivity) of the glaciers, encouraging them to retain more solar energy and accelerating melting processes.

Over urban sprawl pushes population pressure, as cities invade these already vulnerable glacial ecosystems. These gases do factor into the Earth’s climate, but they’re also grave threats to glaciers.

The Significance of Glacier Preservation

If we want to protect our water for the long term, protect our ecosystems and address climate change, we need to pursue glacier protection. Reducing glacier retreat will help us to preserve sufficient supplies of freshwater, a critical resource for drinking water, agriculture and energy generation.

Glacier preservation helps improve climate stabilization, allowing ecosystems and human populations to better adapt to shifts in environmental conditions. Finally, many glaciers have a sacred nature in many of the cultures of the peoples who live near them, and many communities depend on them for tourism and recreation that supports local economies.

How to Advocate for Glacier Preservation

It is important to support the conservation of glaciers. So here are some steps individuals and communities can take that are within their reach:

Advocate for more sustainable policies: Use your voice to pressure local government to adopt measures reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This may involve backing renewable energy programs and tighter restrictions on pollutants.

Advocacy: Get involved in initiatives such as World Water Day. Use social media platforms to post facts about why glaciers are important, how they affect global ecosystems, and how climate change affects glaciers. You can help organize educational workshops or seminars in your communities.

Support Local Conservation Societies: Get involved with nonprofit societies dedicated to preserving glaciers and other vital ecosystems. Donate your time, money or campaign with initiatives they have.

Live More Sustainably: Consider changes to your lifestyle that can help decrease your carbon emissions, like prioritizing public transportation, practicing sustainability, and lowering energy spent on material goods.

Get Involved: Support local discussions on the relevance of glaciers and collective responsibility in protecting them.

Every little bit helps to be part of the bigger picture to save the glaciers of our planet and the ecosystem that relies on them for survival.

Conclusion

As we look ahead to World Water day 2025, let us not forget that glaciers offer more than beauty, they are sustainable water resources on which life depends. These towering ice structures, which house enormous quantities of our planet’s freshwater, are increasingly endangered by climate change, sounding alarm bells for ecosystems and communities that cling to them.

It is very important to involve ourselves in awareness, policy and sustainable practices. Each action, from local conservation to international climatic accords, helps protect these vital water sources.

The cycle of life that has endured for millennia continues, and we can make sure that the generations that follow us have pristine glaciers and fresh water to inherit by joining together, making a stand and encouraging sustainable management of our environment.

Thokozani Dlamini is SADC-GMI Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist

By James Sauramba
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa, Mar 21 2025 – World Water Day calls us all to promote the essential element of life: water. But we must also look this year at the rapidly vanishing sources of freshwater that we depend on, especially glaciers. Although glaciers may be remote for many of us, they are an essential component of the water cycle, nourishing rivers and lakes that are important for millions of people around the world. As precious resources with sources under threat, glaciers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are an area of focus.

The prevalence of Glaciers in the in SADC region

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, which tends to be subtropical and tropical, unexpectedly contains several of Africa’s few glaciers, located in its highest mountains.

The steadiness of glaciers retreating in the SADC region is a sobering reminder of what water, climate change, and this planet we share should mean to all of us. The disappearance of glaciers is not simply an environmental problem — it will be a humanitarian disaster for the millions who rely on glacier-fed rivers for their livelihood

Drakensberg Mountains (South Africa and Lesotho), although there are no active glaciers in the Drakensberg range, remnants from the last Ice Age can be seen in the form of cirques and U-shaped valleys carved by glacial action. In high-altitude areas of Lesotho, snow can fall and a few ice patches.

Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) — Treat your eyes with the stunning beauty of one of world’s most famous towering mountains but do know that the glaciers at the top are melting, with the Kilimanjaro Ice Field retreating thin. Experts fear that in a few decades, these glaciers may vanish entirely, melting away at a rapid pace.

Mount Kenya (Kenya) – Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak in Africa, has several glaciers, which have also been retreating in recent years. While spectacular on our camera screens, these glaciers also host vital water for nature, people and wildlife.

How Climate Change Is Affecting Glaciers

The glaciers of the southern African SADC region, like glaciers around the world, face an ever-warming climate. One of the main causes of glaciers melting is global warming, a process that strongly impacts regions such as Africa due to temperatures in Africa increasing at a faster rate than the rest of the world average. Regarding the glaciers of the SADC region, the rising temperatures are resulting in a number of alarming consequences:

Rapid Glacier Retreat: Glaciers are shrinking faster than ever, with many now shrinking year after year. For example, the Mount Kilimanjaro glaciers have receded by approximately 85% over the past century. Mount Kenya’s glacier fields are also melting, some glaciers have shrivelled by more than half in the past few decades.

Alterations of Water Supply: glaciers as a natural reserve slowly release freshwater when melting. That runoff eventually drains into rivers, lakes and other water sources that supply drinking water, farming irrigation and energy through hydropower. As glaciers recede, the water supply becomes increasingly unstable and unreliable, which endangers the communities that rely on it.

Additional Vulnerability to Droughts: In regions where glaciers feed into rivers, such as the Drakensberg Mountains or Mount Kilimanjaro, the loss of ice directly affects water availability. Lower water levels in rivers arising from these mountains add to the existing challenges that many SADC countries face as they increasingly grapple with recurrent droughts due to reduced glacial melt.

Ecosystem Disruption: Glaciers nurture ecosystems that rely on the cold, nutrient-rich waters that they release. These ecosystems are increasingly threatened by shrinking glaciers. The loss of glacial meltwater could impact the delicate balance of these high-altitude environments, causing a decrease in biodiversity and potentially the extinction of species that have adapted to survive in these cold habitats.

Impacts on the SADC Region

The melting glaciers in the SADC region are already having severe repercussions on millions of residents, with significant consequences including:

1. Water Scarcity: The SADC region faces existing water shortages, which are exacerbated by the loss of glacial meltwater. Countries like Lesotho, Tanzania, and Kenya rely heavily on this meltwater for agriculture, drinking water, and hydroelectric power. As glaciers disappear, these nations experience a considerable reduction in reliable water sources, further straining their already challenged water systems.
2. Hydropower Generation: Many SADC countries depend on hydropower produced from rivers fed by melting glaciers. With declining glacier volumes, there is less water flowing to hydroelectric dams, leading to potential energy shortages. This poses significant risks for energy-dependent countries, such as South Africa and Lesotho, where a substantial portion of electricity comes from hydropower.
3. Climate Change and Migration: As water becomes scarcer, rural populations may be compelled to migrate toward urban areas or move across borders in search of water. This trend could result in environmental refugees, overwhelming cities that are already grappling with rapid urbanization, poverty, and resource scarcity.

What Can Be Done?

The continued melting of glaciers is a stark reminder that there is no time to waste in addressing climate action, which is particularly relevant for countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Although halting glacier melt entirely may not be feasible, there are steps to be taken to conserve what few glaciers there are remaining as well as strategies for adaptation to sediment influx and climate warming:

Investing in Water Conservation: Governments and communities need to focus on water conservation practices to ensure that water available is used effectively and efficiently. This involves developing more effective possibilities for better irrigation, rainwater harvesting, protection of natural water sources etc.

Finding Solutions to Climate Change: International collaboration and policy reform are important steps to fighting climate change. The SADC region, like the rest of the world, needs to take steps to mitigate carbon emissions and move on renewable energy sources to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Improving Adaptation Strategies: As glaciers continue to retreat, it is becoming increasingly important for governments to create adaptation strategies that address the increasing water supply issues. This may involve upgrades to water storage systems, climate-smart agriculture and the sustainability of alternative water sources in communities.

A call for Action: World Water Day is an opportunity to show the links between glaciers, water resources and climate change. The SADC region has a collective responsibility to ensure that local community voices are prioritised, and that sustainable water management takes precedence in conversations on dedicated water rights.

Conclusion

On World Water Day 2025, the steadiness of glaciers retreating in the SADC region is a sobering reminder of what water, climate change, and this planet we share should mean to all of us. The disappearance of glaciers is not simply an environmental problem — it will be a humanitarian disaster for the millions who rely on glacier-fed rivers for their livelihood. But it is time for action now – to protect water sources, combat climate change and protect the future of the SADC region and beyond.

May this World Water Day serve as a reminder of the value of glaciers for the precious water they provide, and the importance of protecting that water for future generations.

James Sauramba is the Executive Director of the Southern African Development Community Groundwater Management Institute (SADC-GMI)

By Inés M. Pousadela and Andrew Firmin
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay / LONDON, Mar 20 2025 – In a world of overlapping crises, from brutal conflicts and democratic regression to climate breakdown and astronomic levels of economic inequality, one vital force stands as a shield and solution: civil society. This is the sobering but ultimately hopeful message of CIVICUS’s 14th annual State of Civil Society Report, which provides a wide-ranging civil society perspective on the state of the world as it stands in early 2025.

The report paints an unflinching portrait of today’s reality: one where civilians are being slaughtered in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere, with perpetrators increasingly confident they’ll face no consequences. A global realignment appears underway, with the Trump administration dismantling longstanding international alliances and seemingly determined to reward acts of aggression. Any semblance of a rules-based international order is crumbling as transactional diplomacy and the dangerous principle that might makes right become normalised.

Climate change continues to accelerate. 2024 was the hottest year on record, yet fossil fuel companies keep banking record profits, even as they scale back renewable energy plans in favour of further extraction. The world’s economies are reaching new levels of dysfunction, marked by soaring inequality and worsening precarity, while billionaires accumulate unprecedented wealth. Tech and media tycoons are no longer content just to influence policy; increasingly they want to control politics, raising the risk of state capture by oligarchs. Democracy is under siege, with right-wing populism, nationalism and autocratic rule surging. Democratic dissent is being crushed.

These compounding crises create a perfect storm that threatens the foundations of human rights and democratic freedoms. But in this precarious moment, precisely when civil society is needed most, it faces an accelerating funding crisis. Major donor agencies have cut back support and aligned funding with narrow national interests, while many states have passed laws to restrict international funding for civil society. The malicious and reckless USAID funding freeze has come as a particularly heavy blow, placing many civil society groups at existential risk.

At times like these it’s worth thinking about what the world would look like without civil society. Human rights violations would flourish unchecked. Democracy would erode even faster, leaving people with no meaningful agency to shape decisions affecting their lives. Climate change would accelerate past every tipping point. Women would lose bodily autonomy. LGBTQI+ people would be forced back into the closet. Excluded minorities would routinely face violence with no recourse. Whole communities would live in fear.

As events during 2024 and early 2025 have shown, even under extraordinary pressure, civil society continues to prove its immense value. In conflict zones, grassroots groups are filling critical gaps in humanitarian response, documenting violations and advocating for civilian protection. In numerous countries, civil society has successfully mobilised to prevent democratic backsliding, ensure fair elections and challenge authoritarian power grabs.

Through strategic litigation, civil society has established groundbreaking legal precedents forcing governments to take more ambitious climate action. Struggles for gender equality and LGBTQI+ rights keep being won through persistent advocacy, despite intensifying backlash. Across diverse contexts, civil society has employed a wide range of ever-evolving and creative tactics – from mass mobilisation to legal action – and proved it can and will hold the line even as civic space restrictions intensify and funding is slashed.

The message is clear: civil society represents a vital source of resistance, resilience and hope. Without it, many more people would be living much worse lives.

But if civil society is to keep doing this vital work, it may need to reinvent itself. The funding crisis demands innovation, because even before the USAID catastrophe, the donor-reliant model had reached its limits. It has long been criticised for reproducing economic and political power imbalances while constraining civil society’s ability to confront entrenched power. More diverse and sustainable resourcing models are urgently needed, from community-based funding approaches to ethical enterprise activities that generate unrestricted income.

To thrive in this changing and volatile context, civil society will have to embrace a movement mindset characterised by distributed leadership, nimble decision-making and the ability to mobilise broad constituencies rapidly. Some of the most successful civil society actions in recent years have shown these qualities, from youth-led climate movements to horizontally organised feminist campaigns that connect people across class, race and geographic barriers.

Civil society must prioritise authentic community connections, particularly with those most excluded from power. This means going beyond traditional consultations to develop genuine relationships with communities, including those outside urban centres or disadvantaged by digital divides. The strength of the relationships civil society can nurture should be one key measure of success.

Equally crucial is the development of compelling narratives, and infrastructure to help share them, that speak to people’s legitimate anxieties while offering inclusive, rights-based alternatives to the widely spread and seductive but dangerous appeals of populism and authoritarianism. These narratives must connect universal values to local contexts and concerns.

In this current cascade of global crises, civil society can no longer hope for a return to business as usual. A more movement-oriented, community-driven and financially independent civil society will be better equipped to withstand threats and more effectively realise its collective mission of building a more just, equal, democratic and sustainable world.

The 2025 State of Civil Society Report offers both a warning and a call to action for all concerned about the shape of today’s world. Civil society represents humanity’s best hope for navigating the treacherous waters ahead. In these dark times, civil society remains a beacon of light. It must continue to shine.

Inés M. Pousadela is Senior Research Specialist and Andrew Firmin is Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. They are co-directors and writers for CIVICUS Lens and co-authors of the State of Civil Society Report.

For interviews or more information, please contact [email protected].

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By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 2025 – On March 18, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively terminating the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. This comes after a pause in ceasefire operations when Israel continued its blockade on humanitarian aid in the enclave and demanded the release of additional hostages.

Following the renewed bombardment, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the IDF and appealed for a return to the ceasefire. On March 19, IDF spokesperson Israel Katz issued a statement to X (formerly known as Twitter), in which he assured an escalation in destruction if the hostages are not released.

“Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume, and what follows will be far more severe—you will pay the full price. Return the hostages and remove Hamas—the alternative is total devastation,” said Katz. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed that the IDF would attack Gaza with “increasing force”.

Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan responded by stating that Israel’s actions would not alter the terms in the ceasefire. Rather, they would only exacerbate instability in the region.

Since January, the IDF has killed at least 106 Palestinians, most of whom were situated in and around the “no-go” zones alongside the borders of Gaza. The attack, consisting of a series of airstrikes and artillery shellings, has taken the lives of at least 404 Palestinians and injured over 560. Many more victims are still trapped underneath rubble.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that March 18 was one of the largest single-day death tolls for children in the past year globally. “Today, Gaza’s one million children – who have endured more than 15 months of war – have been plunged back into a world of fear and death. The attacks and the violence must stop – now,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell.

According to a recent humanitarian situation update from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in addition to a widespread loss of human life, the attacks have also caused considerable damage to critical infrastructure and an exacerbation in rates of civilian displacement.

“The Israeli military reportedly hit residential buildings, schools and IDP camps – a trend that has been documented extensively by our Office since October 2023. We are again seeing the scenes of mutilated bodies of children, and bodies wrapped in shrouds. The Israeli military also issued a displacement order from several parts of Gaza…It is unacceptable, even unimaginable, to once again find ourselves talking about this instead of supporting a path towards meaningful recovery and sustainable peace,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Prior to the attack, the IDF had issued evacuation orders for north Gaza and eastern Khan Younis, affecting over 30,000 people. Additional evacuation orders in Gaza’s eastern, northern, and southern border areas have forced hordes of civilians to reside in the overcrowded coastal regions of the enclave. The UN has reported that approximately 90 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza – 1.9 million – have been forcibly displaced multiple times.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Silmiyeh, the Director of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, informed reporters that the current situation is “catastrophic”, likening it to conditions seen in Gaza following October 7, 2023. Gaza’s healthcare system is largely unequipped to handle large influxes of patients.

“This morning, there were 50 bodies at the emergency department and another 30 at the morgue refrigerator. Operation rooms were full, and many injured people had died in front of our eyes while we couldn’t treat them,” said Abu Silmiyeh, adding that there were many patients whose bodies had been mutilated in a graphic manner.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 17 hospitals remain non-functional, six are partially functional, and only four field hospitals are fully functional. However, these hospitals lack the necessary equipment, vehicles, and medication needed to attend to all the injured or killed civilians.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has also called for blood donations at functional hospitals. Critical medical infrastructures, such as oxygen generators and intensive care units, as well as numerous power outages, have been destroyed or critically damaged by the attack.

Israel has continued its blockade of humanitarian aid in Gaza which is projected to eliminate the substantial humanitarian progress that has been achieved in the first 42 days of the ceasefire. In a statement shared to X, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it had delivered over 40,000 tons of food to Gaza and distributed nutrition support and cash assistance since January.

With humanitarian aid deliveries having been halted for the foreseeable future in Gaza, the entirety of the enclave’s population is critically dependent on the remaining resources from Phase 1, which is rapidly dwindling. According to OCHA, over one million Palestinians are at risk of being left without food parcels.

Furthermore, OCHA warns that the closure of crucial border crossings threatens to exacerbate levels of malnutrition, dehydration, and other diseases, particularly for children and pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Agricultural facilities, such as greenhouses, farms, and irrigation systems have sustained significant damage, making it nearly impossible for Gaza to produce any food. Commercial food prices have far exceeded affordability for the majority of Gazans, with prices of staple items, such as flour, sugar, and vegetables, having increased by roughly 200 percent.

The UN has repeatedly called for a return to the ceasefire, underscoring the fragility of the security situation in the enclave. Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has said in a statement that the international community must “uphold its obligation to protect Palestinians from annihilation”, and ensure that Israel does not have impunity for committing violations of international humanitarian law.

“Israel’s conduct aiming to ethnically cleanse the land between the river to the sea, amounts to a genocidal campaign to erase Palestinians as a people,” said Albanese. “…What is happening to the Palestinians is a tragedy foretold, and a stain on Israel’s history for which we bear collective responsibility. It is never too late for the world to stand up and do the right thing.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Mar 20 2025 – Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza comes several months after both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued reports concluding without equivocation that Israel was engaged in genocide. But very few members of Congress dare to acknowledge that reality, while their silence and denials scream out complicity.

In a New York Times interview last weekend, the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer put deep moral evasion on display. Among the “slogans” that are used when criticizing Israel, he said, “The one that bothers me the most is genocide. Genocide is described as a country or some group tries to wipe out a whole race of people, a whole nationality of people. So, if Israel was not provoked and just invaded Gaza and shot at random Palestinians, Gazans, that would be genocide. That’s not what happened.”

Schumer is wrong.

The international Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” — with such actions as killing, “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”

Such actions by Israel have been accompanied by clear evidence of genocidal intent — underscored by hundreds of statements by Israeli leaders and policy shapers. Scarcely three months into the Israeli war on Gaza, scholars Raz Segal and Penny Green pointed out, a database compiled by the Law for Palestine human rights organization “meticulously documents and collates 500 statements that embody the Israeli state’s intention to commit genocide and incitement to genocide since October 7, 2023.”

Those statements “by people with command authority — state leaders, war cabinet ministers and senior army officers — and by other politicians, army officers, journalists and public figures reveal the widespread commitment in Israel to the genocidal destruction of Gaza.”

Since March 2, the United Nations reports, “Israeli authorities have halted the entry of all lifesaving supplies, including food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, for 2.1 million people.” Now, Israel’s horrendous crusade to destroy Palestinian people in Gaza — using starvation as a weapon of war and inflicting massive bombardment on civilians — has resumed after a two-month ceasefire.

On Tuesday, children were among the more than 400 people killed by Israeli airstrikes, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed that “this is only the beginning.”

It’s almost impossible to find a Republican in Congress willing to criticize the pivotal U.S. backing for Israel’s methodical killing of civilians. It’s much easier to find GOP lawmakers who sound bloodthirsty.

A growing number of congressional Democrats — still way too few — have expressed opposition. In mid-November, 17 Senate Democrats and two independents voted against offensive arms sales to Israel. But in reality, precious few Democratic legislators really pushed to impede such weapons shipments until after last November’s election. Deference to President Biden was the norm as he actively enabled the genocide to continue.

This week, renewal of Israel’s systematic massacres of Palestinian civilians has hardly sparked a congressional outcry. Silence or platitudes have been the usual.

For “pro-Israel, pro-peace” J Street, the largest and most influential liberal Zionist organization in the United States, evasions have remained along with expressions of anguish. On Tuesday the group’s founder and president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, issued a statement decrying “the decision by Netanyahu to reignite this horrific war” and calling for use of “all possible leverage to pressure each side to restore the ceasefire.”

But, as always, J Street did not call for the U.S. government to stop providing the weapons that make the horrific war possible.

That’s where genocide denial comes in.

For J Street, as for members of Congress who’ve kept voting to enable the carnage with the massive U.S.-to-Israel weapons pipeline, support for that pipeline requires pretending that genocide isn’t really happening.

While writing an article for The Nation (“Has J Street Gone Along With Genocide?”), I combed through 132 news releases from J Street between early October 2023 and the start of the now-broken ceasefire in late January of this year. I found that on the subject of whether Israel was committing genocide, J Street “aligned itself completely with the position of the U.S. and Israeli governments.”

J Street still maintains the position that it took last May, when the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah. “J Street continues to reject the allegation of genocide in this case,” a news release said.

It would be untenable to publicly acknowledge the reality of Israeli genocide while continuing to support shipping more weaponry for the genocide. That’s why those who claim to be “pro-peace” while supporting more weapons for war must deny the reality of genocide in Gaza.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, Mar 20 2025 – The Forest Declaration Assessment Partners have called for urgent reforms to the international financial system to halt deforestation and protect biodiversity. It has also pitched for redirecting the public subsidies to mitigate the direct and indirect environmental risks from both public and private finance.

The report, titled Transforming Forest Finance, has termed the role of finance as critical in addressing the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, while offering six priority actions to align financial flows with sustainable development goals by 2030.

“Achieving sustainable management of natural ecosystems and a green economy in harmony with nature requires a profound shift in our global financial system,” the report states. “Simply increasing funds will not halt and reverse ecosystem decline. We must also address the deeper socio-economic and political forces that drive deforestation and degradation.”

The Funding Gap and the Need for Systemic Change

The report has identified the stark reality of the funding gap for climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. Despite decades of efforts, current financial mechanisms have fallen short of delivering the scale of funding needed to protect forests. For example, payments for jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs, a key mechanism for forest finance, are described as a “drop in the bucket” compared to what is required to halt and reverse forest loss.

“Payments for jurisdictional REDD+ are far smaller than required to halt and reverse forest loss and do not reflect the true social and environmental costs of inaction,” the report notes. Experts estimate that the cost of implementing REDD+ effectively ranges from USD 30 to 50 per metric ton of CO₂, far higher than the current payments of USD 5-10 per ton.

The report also identifies the role of environmentally harmful subsidies, which continue to drive deforestation and degradation. Governments globally spend trillions on subsidies that exacerbate ecosystem collapse, particularly in agriculture. “Redirecting public subsidies is urgently needed to mitigate the direct and indirect environmental risks from both public and private finance,” the authors argue.

Yet, the advantages of investing in forests are clear.

“There is evidence that globally, forests generate up to US$150 trillion a year in economic benefits—twice the value of the global stock markets. Maintaining healthy forests also creates jobs that support billions of livelihoods. However, the Transforming Forest Finance brief finds that financing, whether from corporations, government subsidies or multilateral development banks like the World Bank, tends to favor economic activities that “exacerbate ecosystem collapse” while failing to calculate their costs.”

Six Priority Actions for Transforming Forest Finance

The report contains six key actions to transform forest finance, targeting multilateral organizations, governments, and financial regulators. These actions are designed to create fiscal space for forest protection, scale up funding for high-impact activities, and embed forest-related risks into financial systems.

Reform Multilateral and International Public Finance

It calls for a significant overhaul of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international public finance to increase fiscal flexibility for developing countries. MDBs collectively manage over USD 2.5 trillion in assets, giving them substantial leverage to deliver long-term, risk-tolerant finance for sustainable development.

“MDBs should expand their balance sheets and increase funding to low- and middle-income forest countries to scale policies for sustainable development, climate, and nature,” the report recommends. It also suggests reforming the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocation system to better support forest and sustainable development goals.

“Changing the rules for SDR allocation could help mobilize finance for forests and ecosystem restoration in the Global South,” the authors state.

Overhaul Sovereign Debt to Create Fiscal Space

High sovereign debt levels in developing countries are a major barrier to long-term forest investment. The report highlights that developing countries collectively owe an estimated USD 11 trillion, with an additional USD 3.9 trillion in debt servicing. This debt burden often forces nature-rich countries to prioritize short-term economic stability over sustainable development.

“MDBs should spearhead efforts to restructure or cancel sovereign debt so that countries can invest in human development and nature protection over the long term,” the report recommends. It also suggests recognizing natural capital as an asset in countries’ debt management frameworks, which could incentivize forest protection and increase fiscal space.

Improve and Scale-Up Funding for High-Impact Forest Activities

The report emphasizes the need to improve existing forest finance mechanisms like REDD+ and develop new, innovative funding channels. One such proposal is the Tropical Forest Forward (TFFF) initiative, which would use interest rate arbitrage to mobilize funds based on preserved forest area rather than emissions reductions.

“Industrialized country governments can play an important role in catalyzing finance in its initial phase,” the report states. It also calls for increased funding for Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), who manage lands that sequester carbon at higher rates than other managed lands.

“Enhancing finance for tenure can help decolonize climate finance and ensure that funds reach high-impact local actors,” the authors note.

Repurpose Harmful Subsidies Driving Forest Loss

The report identifies harmful agricultural subsidies as a major driver of deforestation and calls for their repurposing to support sustainable practices. “Reforming and repurposing agricultural subsidies has the potential to transform the entire food system,” the authors state.

“Countries should identify and phase out harmful subsidies and repurpose these funds to benefit local communities and sustainable practices,” the report recommends. It also highlights the importance of transparency and public engagement in subsidy reform efforts.

Embed Forest-Related Risks into National Financial Regulatory Frameworks

As environmental shocks increasingly destabilize financial markets, the report calls for integrating nature-related financial risks into banking regulations. “Robust regulation is needed to shift harmful finance flows and encourage green investment,” the authors argue.

“Financial institutions must embed deforestation and ecosystem conversion risks into their governance, risk management, and decision-making frameworks,” the report states. It also recommends that financial regulators require institutions to publish annual environmental disclosures and adopt science-based transition plans for reducing deforestation risks.

Expand Sustainable Finance Taxonomies

The report notes the importance of sustainable finance taxonomies in shifting finance flows away from activities that harm forests. “Governments and financial regulators should work together to adopt sustainable finance taxonomies where they do not already exist, and expand existing taxonomy criteria to explicitly exclude activities harmful to forests and ecosystems,” the authors recommend.

Furthermore, it has pitched for decisive, collaborative action to transform forest finance and align financial flows with sustainable development goals. “Transforming forest finance is essential not only for protecting our natural ecosystems but also for building resilient economies that benefit everyone,” reads the report.

“Now is the time for decisive, collaborative action to safeguard our shared future and turn these ambitious proposals into lasting change.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Tanja Brok
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Mar 19 2025 – A new survey carried out by the EU System for an Enabling Environment (EU SEE) network exposes the impact of the US funding freeze on civil society organisations (CSOs) in over 50 countries. With 67% of surveyed organisations directly impacted and 40% of them losing between 25-50% of their budgets, the abrupt halt in funding is disrupting critical human rights, democracy, gender equality and health programs, leaving vulnerable communities without essential support.

Explore the survey in this link

Key Findings:

– The decision by the US to reduce foreign aid funding has become an opportunity to further limit civic space. CSOs are increasingly facing public attacks fuelled by misinformation and negative narratives, along with restrictive regulatory frameworks and heightened scrutiny, according to the new data.

– 67% of surveyed CSOs by EU SEE are directly affected, with 40% of them losing 25-50% of their budgets, forcing them to reduce programs, cut staff or close operations.

– Human rights, democracy and gender equality programs face the most severe disruptions with a real risk of setting the world decades behind.

– Many organisations lack alternative funding sources and risk shutting down permanently.

“Across the world, the immense contributions of civil society to democracy, the rule of law, good governance, policy making and in advancing the rights of excluded voices continue to be undermined by actions that constrain their enabling environment. The time is now for joint action with civil society to push back on these restrictions by advocating for open spaces and progressive laws that promote and protect rights for all,” says David Kode, Global Programme Manager EU SEE.

What Needs to Happen?

The EU SEE network urges governments, donors and policymakers to take immediate action in the following ways:

– Emergency financial support to stabilize affected CSOs
– Stronger donor coordination to ensure sustained support for democracy, human rights, and media freedom programmes.
– Flexible and sustainable funding mechanisms that allow CSOs to adapt.
– Support civil society organisations to develop stronger advocacy & communication strategies to counter narrative backlash.

“If we don’t act now, vital programs which are the direct result of civil society’s impact, supporting democracy, human rights, and communities will disappear,” warns Sarah Strack, Forus Director.

A message echoed by Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, in an interview with CIVICUS: “These measures are a stake in the heart of the right to freedom of association, especially because of the way the decision is made: radical, surprising, with no possibility of gradual action, with little transparency and zero participation of the affected actors.” CIVICUS has also conducted a survey on the impact of the changing global funding landscape for civil society among its members around the world.

The US funding freeze, along with the insecurities and “unknowns” it is triggering, is already having far-reaching consequences, and its long-term effects could be even more devastating. The data is clear: civil society is at risk, and the time to act is now.

Read the full report here: https://eusee.hivos.org/document/the-impact-of-the-us-funding-freeze-on-civil-society/

Tanja Brok, is EU SEE Communications Lead

IPS UN Bureau

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By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, Mar 19 2025 – For about three years now, Argentines have been hearing almost every month that oil production is breaking new records. Looking ahead, the country is projected to become a major global supplier of what remains the most sought-after energy source. 

These developments, presented as hopeful news for an economy that has been in deep crisis for at least 12 years – with a decline in per capita GDP, worsening income distribution, and rising poverty – nonetheless raise many questions.“The Argentine oil industry has advanced over the last 15 years, regardless of the government in power. Today, the benefits are being reaped, the sector will keep growing, and could reach the goal of US$30 billion in exports before 2030”: Gerardo Rabinovich.

Critics question the distribution of economic benefits, the population’s access to energy, the expansion’s environmental and social impact, and the virtual abandonment of the country’s climate goals and commitments.

The so-called Neuquén Basin, in the country’s southwest, is the epicenter of an oil activity expansion that sectors of academia and environmental and social organizations describe as overly aggressive.

“In the last 10 years, exploration began in agricultural areas. Since 2012, 3,300 oil wells have been drilled, 440 of which were completed in 2024. Over 500 wells are planned for 2025,” researcher Agustín González told IPS.

González, an agronomist and professor at the National University of Comahue, which has campuses in Neuquén and Río Negro – two provinces in the Patagonian basin where the Vaca Muerta geological formation is located – highlighted the impact of this expansion.

This field, which sparked the hopes of Argentine politicians and businessmen in 2011 when the U.S. Energy Administration classified it as one of the world’s largest reserves of shale gas and oil, is finally beginning to yield results, sometimes at the expense of other sectors.

Shale hydrocarbons are extracted using a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and González warns that its widespread use is causing significant impacts in a traditionally agricultural region known for its high-quality fruit production.

An oil rig in Vaca Muerta. This unconventional hydrocarbon field in Patagonia is exploited by fracking, which has a greater environmental impact than conventional extraction. Credit: Martin Álvarez Mullaly / Opsur

Impact on Local Communities

“Fracking is extremely violent. It uses 30,000 liters of water per well, mixed with over 60 chemicals and high-powered pumps to fracture the rock. It has nothing to do with conventional oil activity,” González explained.

“Fracking affects all nearby land uses. When it is done near a river, a farm, or a populated area, it puts them at risk,” added González, who is part of a joint research group on the environmental and social impact of Vaca Muerta, involving the University of Comahue and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

“The development of fracking must be balanced with the protection of natural resources, food production, and social equity, establishing a robust regulatory framework to prevent irreversible damage to ecosystems, agricultural areas, and local communities,” warns a study published last December by this group of researchers.

However, this does not seem to be the best time to discuss these issues in Argentina, where far-right President Javier Milei has downgraded the Ministry of Environment to a minor department under the Secretariat of Tourism and has completely rejected not only the climate agenda but also the strengthening of the state’s role as a regulator of productive and industrial activities.

“The government has defunded the Renewable Energy Development Fund (Foder) and outright closed the distributed energy fund,” Matías Cena Trebucq, an economist at the non-governmental Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (Farn), told IPS.

The expert added that “while previous governments had a debated focus on natural gas as a transition fuel, the Milei administration is now fully committed to fossil fuels and has eliminated any reference to a path toward clean energy.”

In 2015, the Argentine Congress passed a law setting a goal for 20% of the country’s electricity consumption to come from renewable sources by December 2025. In 2024, the sector grew due to older projects coming online, reaching 15% of generation, but it is unlikely to continue growing without state support.

A pumpjack in Vaca Muerta, the unconventional oil and gas field that has been the foundation of Argentina’s significant hydrocarbon production growth in recent years. Credit: Courtesy of FARN

Positive Balance 

Thanks to recent trends, Argentina achieved a positive energy trade balance in 2024 for the first time in 13 years, with exports exceeding imports by US$5.668 billion.

Exports of fuels and energy grew by 22.3% last year compared to the previous year, reaching $9.677 billion, accounting for 12.1% of the country’s total exports, according to official data.

The main explanation for these figures lies in the expansion of fracking in Vaca Muerta, which contributed 54.9% of all oil production and 50.1% of gas nationwide. In December alone, Vaca Muerta produced 446,900 barrels of crude oil (159 liters each), 27% more than in the same month of 2023.

Conventional oil and gas production, on the other hand, continues to decline due to the depletion of the San Jorge Gulf Basin in the Patagonian province of Chubut, which was traditionally the country’s main oil-producing region.

Total production in 2024 was 256,268,454 barrels of oil, 11% more than in 2023. This marks four consecutive years of growth, driven solely by unconventional oil from Vaca Muerta.

Due to the potential of this geological formation, various studies circulating in the sector suggest that Argentina is on track to reach US$30 billion in annual oil exports by 2030 and position itself as a global supplier.

“The Argentine oil industry has advanced over the last 15 years, regardless of the government in power,” Gerardo Rabinovich, vice president of the non-governmental Argentine Institute of Energy (IAE) General Mosconi, told IPS.

He added that “today, the benefits are being reaped, the sector will continue to grow, and it is possible that the goal of US$30 billion in exports will be reached before 2030.”

“In 2022, we had an energy trade deficit of US$4 billion, and in 2024, we achieved a surplus of over US$5 billion. That is very important for Argentina,” he added.

However, the flip side of this reality is that, due to the brutal adjustment of public accounts by the Milei government, domestic demand for gasoline and diesel fell by 6.5% and 5%, respectively, compared to 2024, according to an IAE report, said Rabinovich.

“The Milei government has proposed completely liberalizing oil activity, displacing the state, and aligning local prices with global ones,” Fernando Cabrera Christiansen, a researcher at the Southern Oil Observatory, told IPS.

Cabrera, speaking from Neuquén, where he lives, noted that the growth of Argentina’s oil production has not led to greater well-being for a predominantly impoverished population, nor has it made energy cheaper locally.

He emphasized that, while over US$40 billion in investments have flowed into Neuquén in the last decade, according to data from the provincial Undersecretariat of Energy – an amount unmatched by any other region – social indicators remain as alarming as those in the rest of the country.

“The province uses oil royalties to pay public salaries and other current expenses. It is not enough to build infrastructure or provide social benefits. And poverty levels in Neuquén are similar to the national average,” he concluded.

By Ben Phillips
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 19 2025 – “The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.”

As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.

Credit: U.S. Air Force / Trevor Cokley

And as (let us acknowledge it) the Trump revolution is currently popular with at least large parts of the US electorate, and some overseas too, what Musk said summarises also the worldview of a social-cultural moment and movement on the march.

Core to the argument against empathy is the claim that ethical and practical considerations run counter to each other. The guardrails of rules and norms about caring for others, it argues, don’t only hold us back, they tie our hands behind our back.

Morality is for losers, it suggests, and who wants to lose? Only when we cut ourselves free of the burden of looking after and looking out for others, it posits, can we soar. The practical applications of this worldview are all encompassing.

They include the ripping up of international cooperation, the gutting of life-saving programmes for people in poverty abroad and at home, and the violating of due process for protestors, prisoners, migrants, minorities and anyone (who can be made to be) unpopular. That’s not how it ends, that’s how it starts.

A collapse of empathy would be an existential threat to the world. Hannah Arendt, reflecting on her witness to, and escape from, the rise of fascism in the 1930s, concluded “the death of empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” The stakes are too high for us to fail.

So how can we respond to the argument against empathy?

One way would be to stick only to ethics, arguing, simply, “it is our duty to sacrifice for others, and failing to do so is just wrong!” This has driven what has come to be known as the charity narrative.

This approach seems like a flawed strategy because by refusing to engage in the practicality conversation, it concedes it to the cynics and nihilists, accepting the framing of morality as a kind of self-immolation that brings only noble suffering and that cares only about stances, not consequences.

Another way would be to give up on ethics, and make only the most selfish arguments for doing good, like “we should not show ourselves to be unreliable because that would get us knocked off the top perch by our rivals when we must be Number One!” This too seems like a flawed strategy because it reinforces variations of dog-eat-dog as the only frames for success.

What both of those approaches get wrong is that they accept the frame that ethics and practicality are separate. Older wisdoms have long understood them as inseparable. What can in current debates seem like a rivalrous relationship between “what is good?” and “what is smart?”, or “what is moral?” and “what is wise?”, we often find when we look more deeply is not.

That often, the way in which societies developed moral principles was that they are ways to abstract what people have learnt from experience works. When, for example, people say in the African principle of Ubuntu “I am because you are”, that is not just a moral or theological point, it is literally true.

It is what public health teaches us: that I am healthy because my neighbour is healthy. (Even Musk was forced to concede to public pressure on this with his partial admission that “with USAID, one of the things we cancelled, accidentally, was Ebola prevention, and I think we all want Ebola prevention.”

Fearful of the reaction to his initial cancellation of Ebola prevention, he even claimed, falsely, to have fixed that “mistake” straight away, but what matters here is that the case against Ebola prevention collapsed so fast because interdependence was so quickly understood.)

So too, history has continuously shown that I am only secure when my neighbour is secure, and that I thrive when my neighbour thrives. Perhaps, for oligarchs, a ruthless, rule-less, world can work. (Perhaps not, however, when the fall-out comes between the “two bros”.)

But for the 99.9% of us, as John Donne wrote, “no man is an island”. We are interdependent and inseparable. Alone we are weak but together we are strong. Or, as the brilliant bleak joke of old ascribed to Benjamin Franklin put it, “we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately.”

The mutual interest argument, which highlights to people “we each have a stake in the well-being of all, looking out for others is not losing,” does not take us away from values, it reinforces them.

“There is an interrelated structure of reality. We are all tied in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.” That was Revd Martin Luther King in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, and yet he was making an argument that you could say is the argument of mutual interest.

Empathy is not pity. It is rooted in mutuality. As as an ethical frame, it looks at a person in need, perhaps a person that some others don’t fully see, and says straight away “I ought to connect, as that could have been me.” Interdependence, as a practical frame, reflects on the situation of that person, and comes through that reflection to understand that “I need to connect, as that could next time be me.”

Morality and wisdom guide us in the same direction; and as the fastest way there is empathy, that makes empathy not humanity’s weakness but our superpower.

Ben Phillips is the author of How to Fight Inequality.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Promise Eze
BENIN, Nigeria, Mar 19 2025 – When Angela Asemota’s son began having seizures at six years old in 1996, people gossiped that he was possessed by evil spirits, leading her to seek healing from native healers and religious clerics. He underwent several traditional rituals and drank various concoctions, but the seizures persisted. It was not until his fourth year in secondary school in 2004 that she took him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with epilepsy and began taking medication.

“For many years, I was going from pillar to post. I was ignorant about epilepsy and didn’t know it was a medical condition. The native healers and religious houses said my son was cursed. I believed the seizures were caused by witches, wizards, or demonic forces because of false beliefs and misconceptions,” Asemota, who lives in Benin City, Nigeria, told Inter Press Service.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that affects about 50 million people worldwide, with nearly 80 percent living in low- and middle-income countries where treatment is difficult to access. In Nigeria, around 1.7 million people have the condition, based on a prevalence of 8 cases per 1,000 people.

The disorder causes repeated seizures due to abnormal brain activity. While there is no cure, medication can help control it. However, in many African communities, epilepsy is often linked to witchcraft or demonic possession, leading people to seek prayers or traditional healers instead of medical treatment. This stigma limits access to healthcare, leaving over 75% of epilepsy patients in Africa without proper medical care.

EAARF conducting an outreach to teach young students about epilepsy. Courtesy: EAARF

People with epilepsy in Africa often face discrimination and rejection. Many children with the condition are denied access to schools, while adults struggle to find jobs because employers fear they may have seizures at work. Even within families, some epilepsy patients are isolated or treated unfairly, which can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and in extreme cases, suicide.

The Curse of Stigma

“The stigma around epilepsy is worse than epilepsy itself. You are stigmatized by your family, relatives, in-laws, and friends because people don’t even believe it’s a medical condition. People call it a strange disease. Those who want to see you will look at you from afar, as if you are carrying epilepsy in your hands,” said Asemota, who now runs a non-profit, Angie Epilepsy Foundation, to battle epilepsy stigma and provide support for people living with the condition.

After seeing that epilepsy can be managed with medication, she has been raising awareness and advocates for early diagnosis and treatment since 2010. Her organisation fights for patients’ rights, empowers communities, trains healthcare workers, and runs awareness campaigns through schools, churches, radio, and social media. They also provide medical and material support for people living with epilepsy.

Nicholas Aderinto, a medical doctor, believes that campaigns against epilepsy stigma are very important as they encourage people to seek healthcare. Without treatment, he argued, epilepsy-related seizures could lead to death.

“I believe the prevalence of epilepsy in Africa is underreported because many people do not seek medical care due to social stigma. This underreporting affects the accuracy of prevalence data, which in turn leads to inadequate attention from policymakers and limited funding. As a result, epilepsy is not prioritized in policymaking, financing, and research,” he said, adding, “This Lack of focus means fewer studies are conducted, medications remain scarce, and people living with epilepsy do not receive the proper care they need.”

Gender-based Violence

For Elsie Chick, a teacher in Douala, Cameroon, epilepsy stigma cost her relationship. Her partner abandoned her eight years ago after discovering she had epilepsy. In the Central African country, the high prevalence of epilepsy has become a national health concern.

“I never told him I had epilepsy until I was pregnant. Most of the time, I was scared of what people would think, so I kept it from him. He has never called once to ask about the baby. His mother doesn’t want him to take the child because, according to her, the baby might also develop epilepsy,” she said.

She added, “Many times, I have cried. There were moments I wished I could wake up one day and be free from epilepsy. I wished I could sleep at night and hear God tell me, ‘My daughter, you are healed.”’

Dr Mundih Noelar, the founder of Epilepsy Awareness, Aid and Research Foundation (EAARF), a non-profit organisation based in Bamenda, Cameroon, is worried that epilepsy stigma only helps to reinforce gender-based violence against women in Africa. She said myths surrounding epilepsy contribute to the victimisation of women.

Young EAARF activist with her epilepsy campaign message. Courtesy: EAARF

“Women with epilepsy are not valued and face a higher risk of gender-based violence. Many believe the women will pass the condition to their spouses and children. They are also vulnerable to sexual violence, yet even the police are often unwilling to seek justice for them. People rarely consider them for marriage, and those who do get married often endure abuse. I have received countless cases. One woman in a village was mocked by her husband whenever she had seizures. Another was thrown out of her home. One woman I know was regularly beaten by her husband. Many of these women remain in toxic marriages because they fear no one will love or accept them if they leave,” she told Inter Press Service.

Through her initiative, Noelar leads a network of epilepsy survivors—mostly women—whom EAARF calls “epilepsy warriors.” These survivors visit communities and use mass media, including radio and social media, to share their stories, urging people to see epilepsy as a medical condition rather than a reason for stigma.

This community of women serves as a family for people like Chick, who says she is energized when she knows she can always talk to other women facing the same challenges.

“There are others around me who are struggling just like I am—people who are survivors yet still facing challenges. Knowing this gives me joy and a sense of peace, reminding me that I am not alone,” she said.

“We empower women with epilepsy, even in rural communities, on how to address gender-based violence,” Noelar said, emphasizing the importance of raising awareness at all levels of society.

“Even policymakers need to understand what epilepsy is. Many of them still hold onto myths and misconceptions, and because of this, they may never consider policies that support people with epilepsy.”

Addressing Epilepsy

A decade ago, at the 68th UN World Health Assembly, 194 countries, including African nations, committed to strengthening efforts to address epilepsy. The pledge raised hopes for support for those living with the condition. However, critics argue that government action of many African governments remains insufficient, forcing individuals and families affected by epilepsy to depend largely on charities and non-governmental organizations for help.

Action Amos, Regional Programs Coordinator for the International Bureau of Epilepsy, attributes this shortfall to the lack of a structured framework guiding the adoption of a comprehensive and sustainable approach to epilepsy care.

However, he stated, “Since May 2022, the Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and other Neurological Disorders has provided a blueprint to help governments develop plans, protocols, and strategies to place epilepsy on the health agenda. It addresses key issues such as the treatment gap, stigma, and policies, offering a comprehensive approach to tackling the condition.”

Amos emphasized the importance of engaging traditional and religious leaders, who are deeply embedded within local communities and often serve as the first point of contact for those seeking help. He stressed the need to help them understand that epilepsy is a health condition, not a spiritual problem.

“Bridging the gap between traditional healers and medical professionals is essential to ensuring that people with epilepsy receive the best possible care. Traditional and faith healers need to be educated and trained on epilepsy and its causes so they can recognize when to refer patients for medical care,” he said.

Asemota worries that with limited access to medication and inadequate healthcare facilities, epilepsy patients will continue to be isolated. She argues that, as is obtainable in many African countries, the Nigerian government is not providing enough support to people living with epilepsy, especially in terms of subsidizing the cost of medications.

Angie Epilepsy Foundation rallies against epilepsy stigma in Nigeria. Courtesy: Angie Epilepsy Foundation

“A lot of people are no longer buying medication because they cannot afford it anymore. This drives them back to native healers. When you are in dire need, you are vulnerable. You go back to the native healers for help, which is dangerous. Medication is now expensive. Epilepsy has become a condition only the rich can manage,” she said.

But it is not just hard to get medicine, there are also very few neurologists in Africa. This problem is worsened by the many health workers leaving the continent for better opportunities abroad. Without trained neurologists to diagnose patients, prescribe the right treatment, and provide ongoing care, many people with epilepsy face serious risks to their health and lives.

“Governments should invest in training healthcare workers and improving healthcare infrastructure, including increasing the number of neurologists. In most countries, epilepsy is treated by psychiatrists or specialists, so they also need proper support. It is also crucial to integrate epilepsy care into primary healthcare. When discussing primary healthcare, we should not forget community healthcare workers, who should also receive proper training,” argued Amos.

Chick does not believe epilepsy stigma will decrease anytime soon, as many African communities still hold myths in high regard.

“But I believe that if we work hard on advocacy, some people will come to understand that epilepsy is not a curse,” she told Inter Press Service.

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