NIPSA Global Solidarity Newsletter April 2016

April 2016

Issue 16

Promoting Solidarity, Equality and Social Justice

Crisis Mediterranean NIPSA Developing World Projects are funded entirely through voluntary donations

in the

Tools for Solidarity Update on the ASTC Uganda

New Start in Ethiopia

project to support the Ethiopian Trade Unions¸

HMRC

The Sleeping Gamekeeper

TTIP Š 2015: Irish Defence Forces via Wikipedia/Flickr

Where are we now?

CGE Gaza

Latest from the NIPSA supported project

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Chairperson’s Foreword When the Global Solidarity Committee discussed the content for this newsletter we quickly realised that this edition would attempt to present a big picture view of global injustice.

Tax avoidance schemes and unfair global trade deals transfer wealth from those who have the least to those who have the most; the result is poverty and war. In these pages you will read how your donations are providing psycho-social support to children in Gaza who have already lived through three wars. Joby Fox writes about his experiences rescuing refugees landing on Greek shores.

Joby, without any organisation behind him, watched the same news footage of Syrian refugees as the rest of us and simply got on a plane and started helping them. His story is an inspiration.

Nelson Mandela said “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural.

It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”

As trade unionists we know that the best way to overcome an injustice is to act collectively which is why we support the development of trade unionism in poorer countries. In this edition we are pleased to announce our support of the Disability Aid Abroad project to protect employment rights of disabled workers in Ethiopia. We also have less positive news concerning Tools for Solidarity resulting in the end of our partnership. This is undoubtedly a disappointment but we remain committed to supporting projects which support similar sustainable projects in the future. Of course we can only do so with the support of our donors.

It is vital than we continue to receive support form you and I would encourage anyone who has not yet committed to donating to fill in the form at the back of the newsletter.

Ian Boersma Chairperson

NIPSA Global Solidarity Committee

Views expressed in this Newsletter are not, unless otherwise stated, the views of NIPSA.

April 2016

Tools for So

by Francesca Rosada and John Wood

Update on the Artisan Support and It has been an intense year for the Artisan Support and Training Centre (ASTC), a project established

by TFS in partnership with WORI (Women Rights Initiative) in Uganda, June 2014, and funded by both NIPSA and the Irish Government. Sadly, despite some positive results from the project, TFS has come to the decision to end their partnership with WORI and therefore stop the project. It has been a very difficult decision for the organisation, especially when we consider the amount of work and energy that has been put into making the project viable and the loss to the beneficiaries, the artisans.

In September 2015 two members of staff from TFS travelled to Jinja, Uganda for a visit to the project. The purpose of the visit was to assess the progress and achievements made by the programme and discuss future developments. However, once in the country a series of issues came to TFS’s attention. While doing a stock take, it was noticed that a significant number of tools were missing. An investigation was conducted and the senior mechanic was charged, a police investigation later cleared him stating that there was insufficient evidence. However this left the project without the capacity to deliver the tool aspect of the programme, a major setback, despite the fact that it was delivering tools and sewing machines to artisans in rural areas and was starting to make an impact.

For these reasons, TFS decided in agreement with WORI to try and continue the project by focusing on the tailoring side for the coming years. Other tools would still be sent, but these would be refurbished in Belfast rather than Uganda until such time that a new mechanic could be trained.

Under this agreement TFS left Uganda and on returning to Belfast presented the funders with a new proposal for the second year of the project. Given the problems that TFS personnel had encounter during the visit we had no time to assess the training programme delivered by ASTC to tailors. So we contracted an independent organisation within Jinja to conduct this for us. The evaluation highlighted a series of problems in the organisation of the training

Promoting Solidarity, Equality and Social Justice

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olidarity

Training Centre, Uganda particularly in relation to the accommodation of tailors. Accommodation was supposed to be rented to host the tailors coming for a free week of training, when asked about it, however, discrepancies were noticed on its location. When we asked the partner to provide us with receipts regarding this, the manager of WORI refused to provide the information to us. This has never happened to any other project and we were in shock at this response. It was a clear breach of the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement signed by both TFS and WORI. Communication has proved difficult with the partner and after the refusal to share information with us, TFS felt the lack of transparency and trust were starting to seriously undermine the partnership and, consequently, the project. While the project has been able to deliver all the sewing machines for the first year and a considerable amount of tools, organisation of training was poor. Ultimately the lack of transparency and the refusal to share information even when explicitly requested, created a feeling of distrust boosted by the fact that the partner had clearly acted against the terms of agreement. At this point TFS saw no other option than put an end to the partnership and close the project. The idea was to reallocate resources to other organisations supporting the artisans sectors ensuring the tools would still go to the people who need them. The partner refused to do so and TFS is currently in the process of trying and recover the resources.

During a meeting with NIPSA, in October last year, we stressed that while we believed the project could still work we would not continue if funding or resources provided would not be used in accordance with the project guidelines. From the visit and to the time the decision was taken to end the project funds provided by NIPSA for year 2 of the project were not used. The decision was made at a TFS meeting that until all matters were satisfactorily clarified all project expenditure would come from TFS’s own reserves. This has cost TFS, but we feel that integrity in presentation of the project facts and findings are paramount and we would not put funds or resources at any unnecessary risk .

All funds for year 2 have been returned to NIPSA. The decision to stop the partnership and close the project has been extremely difficult and not one that was taken lightly. The project has partially delivered and proved to be beneficial to artisans in the Busoga sub region; while visiting groups in September the change a sewing machine or a tool kit made in the lives of some beneficiaries was astonishing and encouraging. The enthusiasm about the programme was genuine and the potential for the project to make a positive impact in the society is still there. Seeing the programme jeopardise by the misconduct of our partner was heartbreaking, especially because of all the effort Belfast volunteers showed in trying and making a positive change.

Although the end of the project represent a stressful and disappointing episode, useful information have been gathered by TFS which will help in the establishment of future projects. Demand for tools and sewing machines is still high in rural areas of African countries. The need for a tool and sewing machines centre to support artisans with high quality resources and training is still relevant and most importantly asked for by the artisans themselves.

The idea of supplying Vocational Training Colleges with small starter kits to final year students has proved more effective in promoting the tools and the training. This idea will be used in future pilots projects TFS is looking to start in Tanzania. Rather than being discouraged by this setback, TFS is still motivated in establishing tools centres and keeping up the positive outcome this type of projects can bring for artisans in rural areas. Ultimately, they are the ones who would miss an opportunity that could help them improve their lives and their community.

Finally we would like to thank NIPSA and all the people who have contributed to TFS in its endeavour to support development projects. While it has been a difficult time we continue with the tailoring project in Mwanza Tanzania (previously supported by NIPSA) - now into its 9th year the tailoring centre supports Joby Fox and provides training to hundreds of women tailors (above) with each year. the Refugee Rescue Team in Lesobs

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April 2016

Crisis in the Mediterra

by Joby Fox, Refugee Rescue

Some four months ago I went to Lesbos in reaction to the crisis that had been unfolding there. Many of you will have seen the distressing images of people in the water pleading for their lives and also of the young three year old boy found dead on the beach.

I returned home to build teams to help with the situation, and I opened up a crowdfunding page. I received great media interest, which helped to raise the issue. Our first aim was to find a way to implement an effective I first arrived in Lesbos at night and from the moment response to people drowning at sea.

I stood on the North beach outward facing to Turkey Rescue boats were needed to save lives. There were the boats were coming. many legal implications around this issue but it was Myself and other concerned people from around the the right thing to do nevertheless. I was contacted world took in boat-loads of traumatised families day by many people, who reach out and wanted to show their support in one way or another. I was joined by and night. a lady called Jude Bennett and we returned many I was shocked by what I saw in those early days. The times to Lesbos always moving forward on our goal lack of official response from agencies such as the to have a rescue boat and skilled crew.

UN the EU and Red Cross was a real eye opener.

Eight weeks ago we where approached by a world I knew something more needed to be done, famous artist who donated a RNLI rescue boat to particularly in regards to people in dinghies capsizing us, Refugee Rescue. We are now operational with a in the water – an everyday occurrence on the route, 4 person team in support of the Greek coast guard so many lives had already been needlessly lost.

The lack of response to the drownings was a shameful indictment to many so called humanitarian organisations.

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ranean at night, when it really counts to have rescue vessels on the sea. We have assisted in countless incidents of over-crowded dinghies and boats, and recently guided a boat out from the rocky coast of Lesbos.

It was full of men, woman and children destined for disaster. We have developed a volunteer programme for sea rescue personnel, which can be found on our site www.refugeerescue.co.uk

Recent development and facts

As I write this I have received news of more deaths by drowning, 27 people, including 14 children. Our work will go on till there is an end to these senseless deaths. If anybody wants to run a fundraiser or in anyway help us, please feel free to contact us.

Together we can help.

More than 400 people have died so far this year trying to cross the sea to Europe and nearly 10 times as many refugees and migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 compared with the same period last year.

The EU’s chief immigration policymaker, Dimitris Avramopoulos, predicted some 100,000 migrants and refugees would reach Greek shores this month alone.

About 3,000 people are landing on Greek shores from Turkey every day, officials say.

Joby Fox (immediately above) with the Refugee Rescue Team in Lesobs

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April 2016

NIPSA punching above In December 2015, NIPSA’s Global Solidarity Committee formally agreed to support Disability Aid Abroad (DAA) in a three year project to support the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU) promote and defend the employment rights of workers with disabilities. This follows a visit in November 2013 by DAA’s John Coghlan and Neil Alldred to present an Irish trade union perspective in a Workshop organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the capital Addis Ababa – which means ‘new flower’ in the main Ethiopian language, Amharic.

Ethiopia is an exciting place to be right now because after centuries of stagnation, and decades of famine the country is moving forward economically, socially and technologically. We have all heard of the huge inroads China is making into Africa, and in Ethiopia they are building Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, along with many other impressive development projects.

However, the speed with which developments are taking place, and the political context in which trade unions have to operate, mean that the full range of trade union services have not yet been established in Ethiopia. Indeed, the voice of trade unionists and workers generally has not been very strong until recently.

In February 2016, CETU launched an ambitious new campaign to organise workers in Addis Ababa.

Official statistics suggest around only 11% of the city’s approximately 1 million workforce is actually employed in the private or government sectors – the rest are informal workers or employed by NGOs. In the country generally, there are estimated to be up to 16 million people in some kind of employment, but barely half a million of those are in trade unions,

Promoting Solidarity, Equality and Social Justice

its weight in Ethiopia! so the need is huge. Already, over 300 companies have been contacted and the campaign aims to enrol a further 24,000 employees into trade unions

by June of this year. This is a courageous example of trade unionism seeking to counter the global trend to ignore workers’ rights, and an example ICTU and the TUC are delighted to support.

unions in Ethiopia the capacity to train trade unionists in disability rights issues; to establish Disability Committees in each union and Disability Champions in major employment centres; and to write into individual trade union Constitutions as well as into Collective Bargaining Agreements the determined commitment to defend, uphold and NIPSA’s vital support to DAA means that the well- promote the rights of workers with disabilities. established Disability Champions model of training Neil is liaising with the head of the Social Affairs for members, representatives and officers in trade department within CETU, Mr Fisehatsion Biadgilgn unions can now be shared with brothers and sisters (which takes a little practice to say!), and it is hoped in Ethiopia. Northern Ireland has a population of that as the project develops either he or the president about 1.8 million; Ethiopia has a population of about of CETU, Mr Kasahun Follo, will be able to visit the 100 million – but trade unionists here are able to help UK and Ireland to meet with trade unionists here, to friends in a very poor country build the movement, report on the programme’s successes and difficulties, not just with rhetoric but with really useful services and to further strengthen the international links of that engage workers into their respective unions. solidarity between our different countries. Ethiopia’s The project seeks to build expertise in disability Government has embarked on the creation of rights training and advocacy – vital in a country massive industrial parks, hoping to generate over where wars and poverty have left an estimated 10 200,000 jobs, but Ethiopian workers share the same million people with various disabilities, according concerns as Irish and British workers: to avoid a race to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and to the bottom and to ensure that decent work is the vast majority of those are not able to find made available rather than ‘any job at any price’. employment in the formal waged sector but must The NIPSA/DAA/CETU project is a great opportunity beg or engage in domestic work or petty retail. for us all to familiarise ourselves with the needs of The training programme aims to help give trade workers in an extremely poor country and to join in what is essentially a common endeavour – if we help them create decent living conditions for themselves in their own country, everybody gains.

A NEW

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Ayalew Ahmed head of Organisational Division & Industrial Relations (left) and Kassahun Folle, Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Union’s (CETU) president (right), at the Confederation’s Press Conference at its office around Flamingo, Bole Road on February 17, 2016

proje

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Promoting Solidarity, Equality and Social Justice

HMRC

The Sleeping Gamekeeper

by Michael Robinson, NIPSA Global Solidarity Committee Channel 4 News recently ‘revealed’ that HMRC had so far paid Mapeley £2.7 billion for rent and maintenance of its properties, but that the company has yet to pay any Corporation Tax in the UK, because it has not yet declared a profit.

Corporation Tax is an important issue to Northern Ireland, because it is part of the UK Government’s General Revenue, which it sets against its Expenditure. When this is not in perfect equilibrium, the Government calls this situation a “Deficit”. The “deficit” to George Osborne, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, is a thing of terror. But it is a terror he doesn’t understand. And so he has committed to reducing it by means of further public expenditure cuts, so severe, that even the OECD has cautioned that he is in danger of running the productive economy into the ground. For Northern Ireland this will have a negative impact on the future allocation of the Block Grant to the Assembly under the Barnett Formula, which crudely balances out public expenditure allocation across the UK.

Off-shore, but in plain view

However, the Mapeley tax “avoidance” is less of a revelation than it appears. The Sunday Express reported a similar concern about this contract in 2013. But it was Private Eye magazine which has challenged the contract from its inception in 2001, when Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, signed over the bulk of HMRC’s property estate in a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal for 20 years at a headline cost of £3.3 billion. It was known at the time that Mapeley, the successful bidder, had an off-shore structure and was 50% owned by George Soros the famous Hedge Fund manager, who did more than a little damage to Sterling at a point in his investment “career”. Soros subsequently sold on his share to another shareholder, the USA based Fortress Investment Group in 2004.

That alone should have been raising flags during ‘due diligence’, but at this point PFI was still regarded as a magician’s trick that existed outside of rational economics.

The HMRC portfolio consists of 147 freehold properties and 454 leasehold properties with a 20 year sale and leaseback arrangement. Mapeley state that they - “own the freeholds and manage the leaseholds occupied by HMRC as Principal (we take the risk of rising rents and we benefit from falling costs), provide full facilities management and carry out construction fit-out works on behalf of HMRC to a preagreed price.”

The problem at the heart of PFI

The first and most obvious problem that arises with this, is the problem that lies at the heart of all PFIs. For the private sector body to get the lowest interest rate on the cost of borrowing to finance such schemes, it is best to borrow over an extended period. But then unlike a straightforward mortgage for a house, PFI contracts which ‘bundle’ such different elements, require that complex requirements are accurately assessed, then projected over a 20 year period, taking account of the ramifications and risks of any policy commitments given by future governments on matters such as the location of offices, the impact of new technologies on working arrangements and often, a change in demographics. The contract will then be delivered without any further competitive process or ability to benchmark with any similar contract, as all are cloaked in “commercial in confidence” protection. It will essentially remain in a steady state, typically over a 20 year period, other than if amended terms are negotiated, which as we have learned from experience, will be done at considerable cost.

The reality is that PFI does not even work in theory and it has proven impossible for the state

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to accurately draw specifications to any sufficient extent to tie down contractors and guarantee that services are provided as actually required. That there is a secondary market, trading in PFI shares, indicates that there is something of the lottery about such contracts.

Mapeley’s Magic Circle

The particular financial magic trick that avoids tax in this PFI contract goes like this: Mapeley Steps Contractor Ltd receives rent from HMRC, which it then “pays” to Mapeley Estates Ltd to manage the properties. Both companies are UK registered, but each has a separate parent company – Mapeley Steps Holdings Ltd and Mapeley UK Co Ltd. Both of these companies are registered offshore. Mapeley then borrows money from within its own structure at ‘adjusted rates’ so high, that the repayment of interest on the “loan” made, prevents it from making a profit in the UK. A less than virtuous circle. But, Abracadabra - no Corporation Tax due.

Public Accounts Committee Report

The Public Accounts Committee at Westminster which examined the contract, produced a report titled “HM Revenue and Customs Estate - Private Finance deal eight years on.” In it they note – “While HMRC got a good price for the contract, it has not obtained key information on Mapeley’s financial position or profitability and has not monitored overall costs or Mapeley’s viability, even though it could incur substantial costs in the event of contractor default.”

Dealing with the off-shore nature of the arrangement, they noted it “had not only been damaging”, but “it is also unlikely that the arrangement delivers any overall benefit to the Exchequer as any reduction in contract price is accompanied by lower tax revenue.”

The HMRC and Google’s Tax Settlement

Given the HMRC’s evidently relaxed attitude to its principal mission i.e. gathering tax, the deal recently made with Google shouldn’t be such a surprise either. In their “settlement” with HMRC, Google paid £130 million to cover back-tax owed since 2005. The settlement involved no additional penalty for their somewhat tardy approach to tax compliance, as would be levied against smaller fry in the ocean of tax avoidance. The settlement was certainly modest given that Google earned over £7 billion, amounting to 10% of its global revenues, from its activity in the UK in 2015 alone.

April 2016

Enter the Public Accounts Committee – Again

Reporting on the settlement, the PAC recommended –“HMRC should consult widely, including with other tax authorities, on the case for changing the rules that protect corporate taxpayer confidentiality to make the tax affairs of multinational companies open to public scrutiny.”

The committee noted that the French and Italian authorities were seeking to extract more tax from Google than the UK has settled for. And because of the apparent generosity of the HMRC brokered deal, the UK government is vulnerable to challenge under EU State Aid rules. These are defined in Guidance published by the UK Government which states: “State aid is any advantage granted by public authorities through state resources on a selective basis to any organisations that could potentially distort competition and trade in the European Union (EU).

The definition of state aid is very broad because ‘an advantage’ can take many forms. It is anything which an undertaking (an organisation engaged in economic activity) could not get on the open market.”

State Aid Rules

State aid rules can (among other things) apply to the following: ●● grants; ●● loans; ●● tax breaks; ●● the use or sale of a state asset for free or at less than market price.”

Titanic Belfast – “Unsteady as She Goes” Interestingly, the NI Assembly breached EU State Aid rules in the commissioning and assistance given to Titanic Belfast, with millions of pounds in anticipated EU grants having to be written off and made up from the Block Grant. This was reported at an Assembly Committee, but as there was no argument between local politicians about it, journalism simply ignored it.

Google and the ”Double Irish”

On 20 February 2016, the Irish Times reported that – according to company documents filed to the Dutch authorities, “Google’s main Irish unit handled transactions worth €28.7 billion over three years as part of an international tax avoidance scheme.”

Promoting Solidarity, Equality and Social Justice

Their economics editor explained – “Google employs more than 2,200 people in Dublin, which serves as its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It deploys a scheme known as the “double Irish” to reduce the ultimate tax bill.”

Under the scheme Google exploits the different tax regimes and rates between Ireland and other jurisdictions “such as the tax haven of Bermuda.” Just like Mapeley as described above, Google has created a structure of separate companies with the main Irish entity being Google Ireland Holdings, owned by Google in Bermuda. It is an unlimited company for which financial information has not been available since 2006. However as the Irish Times reported – “the scale of its operations has now emerged via the reporting of transactions with a subsidiary called Google Netherlands Holdings BV. Financial accounts for Google Netherlands Holdings, which has no employees, show it paid royalty expenses of €10.7 billion to Google Ireland Holdings in 2014 and €9.2 billion in 2013.”

This allocation of profits made in the UK to Google’s Irish unit, its headquarters for large tracts of the world, was raised as a concern by the HMRC and noted by the PAC. Noted too was the fact that Google further minimised its tax via internal company transactions with units in the Netherlands and Bermuda. Unfortunately none of this is illegal under the current tax rules and although the Irish Government agreed in 2014 to phase out this

“loophole”, it allowed companies already availing of it to continue with the arrangement up until the end of 2020.

A fish rots from the head down.

There is a maxim that a fish rots from the head down.

It is not surprising then that Google’s tax advisors are Ernst and Young, (now just EY). Again thanks to Private Eye, we know that in common with the other major accountancy firms, EY deploy tax efficient arrangements involving similar ‘transfer pricing’ in their own affairs. The Partners in EY have thus established themselves as self-employed directors of limited liability partnerships (LLPs). This company vehicle allows them to separately employ thousands of staff in specially created “service companies”. The Limited Liability Partners then reimburse the costs of the service company and add a “mark-up” that gives a taxable profit. The key thing is this profit is taxed at a lower rate than the partners would be liable to as income tax. What does this mean? Quite simply from figures available in 2013 it emerged that Ernst and Young LLP “transferred” more than £90 million taxable profit to Ernst and Young Services Ltd, saving the Partners £18 million in tax.

Another of the Big Four Accountancy firms, Deloitte, employed the same arrangement with its partners transferring £38 million saving its partners around £7.5 million. To close the less than virtuous circle, one of Deloitte’s Partners is Dave Hartnett, former Head of HM Revenue and Customs!

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April 2016

TTIP

Where are we now?

by Ian Boersma, NIPSA Global Solidarity Committee For those who may still be unsure of what TTIP is, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the largest trade deal in history. It is being negotiated in secret between the EU and the USA and its main aim is to remove what are perceived to be the last remaining ‘barriers’ to a free trade zone encompassing the EU and the USA. These ‘barriers’ are in fact hard won public policy legislation, environmental protection and employment rights.

Under TTIP large corporations will have the right to sue governments if they believe that laws and regulations in either jurisdiction could potentially harm their profits. Corporations will also be given privileged early access to proposed public policy legislation potentially leading to what some have described as a ‘chilling effect’, in other words governments will be reluctant to put forward legislation that large corporations are likely to be hostile to. TTIP’s emphasis on ‘regulatory cooperation’

is designed to reduce the cost to businesses that operate in both the EU and the USA by allowing them to take advantage of large economies of scale, this can only happen if European and American regulations are equivalent. In reality this will mean a race to the bottom for everybody covered by the treaty.

In the September 2015 Global Solidarity Newsletter we provided an update on the progress of TTIP through the European Parliament. Since then there has been little public discussion of TTIP from official channels. In February this year European MP’s were finally allowed to read the text of TTIP. Access was granted for two hours to read 300 pages of text in sealed reading rooms on the provision that the MP signed an agreement that they would not discuss with anybody what was in the document. All European MPs had to read the text in English, regardless of their first language. Careful not to breach the terms

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of the confidentially agreement German MP Katja Kipping made the following observation.

“I read nothing to alleviate my concern that the US side wishes to make life more difficult for public and community enterprises and to secure better terms for transnational corporations in the battle for public tenders. I also read nothing to calm my fears that EU negotiators are prepared to sacrifice our social and environmental standards for the prospect of winning lucrative contracts for big European firms.”

The contrast between the lack of transparency afforded to members of European legislatures and the early access that would be given to corporations in the name of ‘regulatory cooperation’ could not be starker.

Over the last year NIPSA members along with others across Europe have lobbied their MP’s and MEP’s in unprecedented numbers to express their opposition to TTIP. This has led to some minor concessions being offered to soften the impact. I received a reply from Northern Ireland MEP Jim Nicholson in June 2015 in which he addressed concerns that Northern Ireland’s farming industry could be badly affected by cheap US imports produced using inferior environmental standards.

“European standards are vital, and in writing the Agriculture Committee’s opinion on TTIP, I made it very clear that our high standards on food production, consumer protection, animal welfare and the environment must be maintained” Mr Nicholson is directly involved in the TTIP negotiations and his insistence on maintaining EU standards resonates with the public outcry against TTIP ‘harmonisation’ not just for food production but across all sectors. However, according to War on Want this has led to negotiators proposing that the goal of regulatory convergence could be achieved not through harmonisation of regulations but by a ‘mutual recognition’ of social and environmental regulation. This would mean that American food and products manufactured to a safety standard that would still be illegal in the EU being sold alongside domestic produce as if they had met EU standards.

Of course those imports would be far cheaper for the consumer to buy and as such would pose a huge risk not just to our farming industry but to small and medium businesses across Europe. Currently in the UK small businesses account for 60% of all private sector employment, if the markets they operate in are suddenly overwhelmed by cheap imports the effect

on employment would be catastrophic. It may not grab the headlines in the same way as the failure to protect the steel industry but the dynamics and the cost will be the same. This is Hobson’s choice, either abandon your safety standards to try to compete with us or maintain them and go out of business. It is worth pointing out that in the week that Port Talbot steelworks was thrown to the wolves, news surfaced that the US has placed a 266% tariff on steel imports in order to protect their steel industry.

The USA does not escape from the race to the bottom that TTIP will cause either. The federal legislation regulating toxic substances in America, the Toxic Substance Control Act (TESA) is notoriously week; since it was passed 38 states have introduced 250 pieces of legislation providing much more stringent protection from hazardous substances. According to the Centre for International Environmental Law TTIP has the potential to overturn all of this legislation (a long held aim of large chemical and manufacturing corporations) as environmental protection would become a federal issue due to harmonisation with the EU. Ultimately it may be the USA who ensures that TTIP is shelved, at least in its current form. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders both are publicly hostile to further free trade agreements and even Hillary Clinton, a long time cheerleader for NAFTA has stated that her position on free trade has evolved. What we can expect now is a rush to conclude negotiations before President Obama leaves office in January 2017.

By the time the next edition of this newsletter is published the UK will have voted on whether or not to remain in the EU. It is regrettable but not surprising that David Cameron’s ‘reforms’ of the EU were limited to attempting to impoverish low paid workers who had been encouraged to come to Britain in more prosperous times. True reform of the EU would mean ensuring that decisions that have the potential to hugely impact on the lives of its citizens could not be taken in secret, where MP’s would have unfettered access to information on important issues and where the commission was directly accountable to the people of Europe. The EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom caused shock when asked by War on Want Executive Director John Hilary how she could continue with promoting TTIP in the face of such massive public opposition she replied “I do not take my mandate from the European people.”

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April 2016

Three Wars in Six Years

by Stephen McCloskey, Director, Centre for Global Education

Gaza’s new generation of children has been scarred by the terror of conflict and unrelenting poverty Israel’s siege of Gaza

Belal Dabour, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza, argues that the region’s ‘new generation of children only knows stress, wars and aggression’. After nearly a decade of a medieval-like siege imposed by Israel in 2007 in response to the election of Hamas, most of Gaza’s children suffer from malnutrition, stunting, diarrhoea and typhoid. These health problems are not the result of a drought, famine, flood or earthquake but represent the perfectly preventable and carefully calculated policies of the Israeli government. When the siege was first imposed, a senior Israeli official described Israel’s planned response. ‘The idea’, he said, ‘is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger’. In 2012, an Israeli human rights organisation, Gisha, forced the Israeli government into the publication of a ‘Red Lines’ document which chillingly calculated the daily average number of calories needed by Gazans (2,279) before they began to starve. This policy has been described by Richard Falk, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, as a form of ‘collective punishment’ and ‘a flagrant violation of the most

fundamental obligation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law’.

Public Health Catastrophe

The siege is imposed on a population of nearly two million people, most of whom are refugees dependent on food aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), and 50 percent of whom are children. Amnesty International has described Gaza as living in the shadow of a ‘public health catastrophe’ given the restrictions on food, fuel and day-to -day necessities entering the territory as a result of the siege. Fuel shortages have limited the domestic supply of electricity to a few hours a day and left water and waste-water facilities dependent on stand-by generators. According to Amnesty, 65 percent of Gaza’s population only receive access to water ‘every three or four days’ and ‘35,000 cubic metres of raw sewage spew into the streets’. These health problems are compounded by an economy in freefall, with imports and exports reduced to a trickle by the severe restrictions operated by the blockade.

The lack of imported building material means that 90 percent of Gaza’s children attend school for half a

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day owing to a chronic shortage of school buildings; less than half of the current need. Other key social and economic sectors such as health, employment, housing and welfare are all starved of investment in a region lacking the basic infrastructure to support its growing population.

Three Wars in Six Years

These deprivations would be hard enough to bear without the additional effects of three major Israeli wars in six years: Operation ‘Protective Edge’ (2014), ‘Pillar of Cloud’ (2012) and ‘Cast Lead’ (2008-09). A ten year old child in Gaza is likely to bear the long-term psychological scars of war manifesting themselves in behavioural change and symptoms such as fear, stress, bedwetting, aggression, becoming withdrawn and retreating from the world around them. These issues are exacerbated by household poverty and high unemployment levels with families constantly striving to make ends meet. The parental strain of poverty is often passed on to children. As Dr Dabour puts it: ‘we have a new generation who has only witnessed stress, wars, and aggression. They have basically never experienced normal life...’

Psycho-Social Support

The Centre for Global Education, with the support of NIPSA, has been offering psycho-social and educational support to children suffering from the scars of conflict and poverty. In January 2016, we started delivering a new two-year project in Gaza in partnership with the Canaan Institute, our Palestinian partner organisation. The project is being delivered to 400 boys and girls aged 7-10 in four impoverished and marginalised areas of Gaza: Bureij in central Gaza, Deir Al Balah and Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, and Mugragha, a rural area ten km south of Gaza city. Three facilitators from a local community organisation in each area will be trained by the Canaan Institute to deliver education and psycho-social activities using participative, active learning methodologies. The training will facilitate discussion and expressional activities that will enable the children to share problems related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and parental pressures caused by household poverty. The participating children will attend their local community centre three half-days a week when they are not at school and will receive classes in literacy, numeracy and other key curriculum areas. They will also participate in structured play activities using arts and crafts, games and local cultural traditions.

The cumulative effect will be to enhance the

children’s learning and help address the underlying causes of their psychological problems with the support of trained psychotherapists and their families. The project will offer workshops to parents to support them in extending psychosocial support to the family home and enable them to better understand their child’s behavioural problems. The children selected for the programme will be those showing the most acute symptoms of psychological distress living in areas that are highly impoverished and marginalised.

NIPSA’s Support

Without NIPSA’s support this project could not be delivered and the fact that it is being funded over two years will help to embed the learning experienced by the children. The Centre’s previous experiences of working with children in Gaza showed that these integrated programmes of psycho-social support using educational activities really benefit children over the longer term and help them come to terms with the mental distress caused by life in a perpetual state of conflict and poverty. Therefore, NIPSA’s support of this programme - generously funded by its members – really makes a difference to children’s lives in a high stress environment.

BDS

I would also urge all NIPSA members to add their support to the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement initiated by Palestinian civil society against Israel until it complies with international law, respects Palestinian rights and, of course, lifts the siege of Gaza. BDS is a non-violent strategy ‘that allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice’. It has enjoyed major successes in persuading large corporations to disinvest from Israel until it complies with international standards in human rights. The most recent example of this success is the decision

by British security giant G4S to ‘sell its entire Israeli business within the next 12 to 24 months’. G4S is a major supplier ‘of equipment and services to Israeli prisons and detention centres, in which thousands of Palestinian prisoners are tortured and held – including without charge or trial’. Following a concerted BDS campaign, G4S experienced a 40 per cent fall in its pre-tax profits.

We need to widen and sustain support for BDS to prevent more Israeli atrocities in Gaza and secure an early lifting of the Israeli siege. Another generation of children in Gaza should not be exposed to the physical and mental anguish of conflict and chronic poverty.

15

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