Lire la version en français

Cyclone Mocha slammed into Myanmar more than a month ago, but the military junta is still obstructing humanitarian aid to devastated areas.

The storm was one of the strongest cyclones ever to hit the region. Sustained winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour wreaked havoc. Hundreds of people died. Hundreds of thousands of buildings were damaged, and telecommunications outages have isolated entire communities.

In all, according to UN estimates, some 7.9 million people were affected, and 1.6 million are in need of urgent assistance.

Instead of rushing to the aid of victims, the military junta has thwarted the relief effort at every turn. They blocked desperately needed aid from reaching cyclone survivors.

Junta authorities have refused to authorize travel and visas for aid workers. They have prevented the release urgent supplies from customs and warehouses. They’ve kept in place completely unnecessary restrictions on lifesaving assistance.

The junta’s aid blockages have hindered every aspect of cyclone response. They have, in the words of my colleague and HRW Asia researcher Shayna Bauchner, “turned an extreme weather event into a man-made catastrophe.”

And restrictions are actually increasing. Despite weeks of appeals by humanitarian organizations for unfettered access to cyclone-hit Rakhine State, for example, the junta issued a blanket suspension of travel authorizations for aid groups.

The UN aid coordinator responded: “Just when vulnerable communities need our help the most, we have been forced to stop distributions of food, drinking water, and shelter supplies. This denial of access unnecessarily prolongs the suffering of those without food to eat or a roof over their head.”

Villagers tell our researchers of massive ongoing needs, including destroyed shelters, untreated injuries, waterborne illnesses, malnourishment, and a lack of access to food and clean water. Thousands of lives are at immediate risk, and millions are endangered.

This is intolerable, and it demands a strong international response.

Donor governments, regional bodies, and the UN all need to pressure the junta hard to lift all restrictions on aid delivery immediately.

Algorithms schmalgorithms, the latest technology won’t help people very much if it’s based on outdated stereotypes.

A perfect example comes from Jordan, where an automated cash transfer program to help those in need often fails to do so.

The system profiles and ranks the income and well-being of families to determine who should receive support. It’s a process known as “poverty targeting,” and it forms the basis of World-Bank-funded programs not only in Jordan but in seven other countries in the region.

The problem is, the cash transfer algorithm is based purely on income and socio-economic status. If your hardships don’t fit the algorithm’s rigid model of what poverty looks like, you’re out of luck.

Some of the indicators and restrictions are simplistic and misguided. If you own a car less than five years old, for example, you are are automatically disqualified, never mind that you need the car for work and can’t afford to put gasoline in it.

If your family consumes what’s judged to be “too much” water and electricity, you be less likely to qualify for support.

People can go hungry, fall behind on rent, or take on crippling debt – but the algorithm still won’t recognize their claim and right to social security.

The World Bank and the Jordanian government should phase out this system and instead establish a universal social protection system, ensuring everyone receives income support at key moments throughout their lives.

(written by Lisa Maier)

In a landmark decision for tribal sovereignty last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that children have the right to stay with and be raised by their families. 

The court rejected constitutional challenges to the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which seeks to ensure Native families stay together and children are raised by tribal members.  

In short, the ICWA grants Native children the right to remain connected to their families, community, and culture. 

For centuries they have endured egregious abuse through so-called “child welfare” interventions, including violent indoctrination and white-family adoption. 

In 1978, after decades of Indigenous-led activism, the ICWA passed and limited the removal of Indian children. 

The new ruling upholding the law is good news, but other problems with the US child welfare system remain. Poverty is still used as the basis for charges of neglect and decisions to take children from their parents. This disproportionately affects Indigenous and Black families. 

Last week’s victory is worth celebrating, but it doesn’t fix the country’s broken approach to child protection. 

(compiled by Aiza Rodrigues Akhtar)

• New Zealand starts giving priority to Māori and Pacific elective surgery patients (The Guardian) 
• France offers Tunisia €25.8 million to help stop illegal migration (France 24, in English) 
• Families seek UN help over Australia’s notorious refugee policies (Al Jazeera) 
• Bangladesh: Protect People Most at Risk During Monsoon Season (HRW) 

Last week, after yet another avoidable disaster at sea, I noted here in this newsletter how mass drownings are to the EU what mass shootings are to the US.

It keeps happening. And every time it happens, politicians pretend to be concerned, yet keep in place the government policies at the root of the problem. So, people keep dying.   

More and more media outlets are picking it up, as I mentioned yesterday. I see BBC News has also run with the comment.

The Czech outlet Britské listy has reprinted yesterday’s follow-up article on the EU’s moral meltdown.

Italian think tank OBC Transeuropa also noted the article in their analysis of what the EU needs to do on World Refuge Day today (in English here).