Beyond the Storm

Beyond the storm Consequences of a crisis

Utblick Staff Editor-in-Chief and responsible publisher Johanna Bergström

Editors

Bea Almhagen Fanni Björklund Sahithi Kanapala Justyna Piaskowska Jakob Ranglin Grissler

Featured Writers Vilma Ellemark Dominique Keizer Johannes Malmgren Guery Marañón Kathina Mehring Laurin Zils

This U material is entirely or partly financed by SIDA, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, through ForumCiv. SIDA/ForumCiv do not necessarily share the opinions found in the magazine. The responsibility for the content rests fully on the writer.

uestions regarding o ou ur w wr riting, p pllease eFor q qu mail the Ed Editor-in-Chief at at ut utb blick.got@gmail.c .co om Utblick - fö för in inblick i vä världen; n no o 1/ 1/21-22 Cover iim mage b by y Da Danny Li Lines/Unsplash All v ve ectors u ussed a arre ffrrom ffrreepik.com Printed at: Trydells tryckeri

Editor’s letter

by Johanna Bergström - p 4

Latin America - electoral experiences in 2020-2021

by Guery Marañón - p 6-9

Corona and the capitalization of media

by Johannes Malmgren p 10- 13

Covid and Keyboards - how the pandemic accelerated the digital shift

by Laurin Zils p- 14-17

”Yes, she’ll do” - the increase of child marriages in the wake of covid 19

by Vilma Ellemark p 20-23

The Shadow Pandemic - intimate terrorism in times of crises

by Kathina Mehring p 24-27

Global Connectivity - Rethinking the relationship between humans and nature in a post-pandemic reality

by Dominique Keizer p 28-31

Editor’s letter Some say when it rains, it pours. This has been more true than ever in the covid-19 pandemic, during which the interconnectedness of the world showed that with the introduction of one problem in society the virus - other issues quickly followed.

When I took a first aid class a few years back, we were told that the first priority should always be to save lives. All steps in the aid routine were based on the level of threat to survival, even if that meant initially disregarding other issues that were present. Though simplified then, I have seen the same routine play out on a global scale during the pandemic. While governments have scrambled to address the immediate threats, other issues have loomed in the background, able to grow in the shadow of the crisis that is the virus.

In this issue of Utblick, six writers discuss different ways in which the pandemic reshaped realities around the globe beyond health.

Guery Maranon discusses canceled elections, Johannes Malmgren highlights the capitalization of media and Vilma Ellemark the surge in child marriages. An issue that has been prevalent for years but was especially exacerbated by the pandemic conditions was domestic violence, highlighted by Kathina Mehring. Other shifts were ushered in by a sudden need, like the digitalization of the workforce, eloquently described by Laurin Zils. Not least, Dominique Keizer gives a poignant analysis of what the pandemic means for human interaction with nature.

When I am writing this, the omicron variant is in the headlines, warning us of a new wave. Vaccine inequality is still a huge issue, with poorer countries still hardly being able to put their hands on their first doses.

At the same time, those who got their first doses a year ago in more affluent parts of the world are showing diminished immunity and as a result, countries with high vaccination coverage are still stockpiling vaccines in a vicious circle that keeps the pandemic going.

However, beyond the storm that is the virus, all the challenges highlighted in this issue will remain for governments to deal with once the pandemic subsides. We can only hope that once the first aid is done, we move on to these as well.

Johanna Bergström Editor-in-chief 4

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Latin America: Electoral experiences in 2020-2021

By Guery Marañón Organizing elections is always a complex process that requires experience, work under pressure and preparation for possible crises. However, as covid-19 was something completely new for the world, it became difficult to control, and many electoral institutions were unable to organize elections on the scheduled date.

Speaking specifically about electoral processes in Latin America since the beginning of the pandemic, around 20 elections have been organized in 13 countries. The last ones were held this year in Nicaragua (November 21), Chile (November 21) and Honduras (November 28).

Elections in the region allowed countries to define their future, either by electing their authorities (with the enormous criticism that some countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua had) or by marking structural changes (such as Chile’s plebiscite in 2020). The pandemic forced the electoral authorities to adapt the elections to COVID, a job that was not easy and had both positive and negative results.

Postponed elections in 2020

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Country

Initial Date

Chile

April 26

Bolivia

May 3

Uruguay

May 10

Dominican Republic

May 17

México

July 7

Brazil

October 4

The pandemic took everyone by surprise.

The levels of contagion in Latin American countries, daily deaths and ignorance of the characteristics of COVID transmission made governments prioritize other needs of citizens, momentarily putting aside democratic procedures.

In addition to social pressure to preserve health, electoral institutions had to invest more resources in the acquisition of biosafety materials for precincts and for electoral personnel. In other cases, the voting method was changed to enforce social distancing and avoid contagion. As a result, in 2020, seven Latin American countries had to change the initial dates of their elections: Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Brazil. The Bolivian case should be highlighted, since it changed the date of its presidential elections on two occasions (initially on May 3, then on September 6 and finally on October 18) due to the evolution of the pandemic in that country.

Insecurity in the pandemic: will I get it?

The main problem when organizing an election in a pandemic was the fear of contagion.

A la r m i ng numbers of the deElection Date ceased October 25 were in the news daily.

October 18 Many citizens lost September 27 family and July 5 friends due to COVID. October 18 F e a r gripped November 15 ever yone,

so convincing people that they could vote without getting infected was the biggest challenge.

The Dominican Republic had a negative result considering that, after a strong campaign by the electoral body, the percentage of participation obtained in its July 2020 presidential election was one of the lowest in its history: 55.29%. Therefore; was it possible that there could be a high citizen participation in the face of a health crisis?

The answer may be yes. The Bolivian case is the most illustrative. The then president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Bolivia (TSE), Salvador Romero, Romero, mentioned that the Bolivian elections of 2020 were the most difficult in the country’s democratic history. To begin with, the country was in an extreme political crisis after the annulled elections of October 20, 2019, which put a lot of pressure on the electoral institution as citizens demanded to have a legitimately elected government in the shortest possible time. Secondly, the high polarization in the society that came into protests after

the election date had to be changed twice.

Finally, the epidemiological crisis due to COVID-19. After an intense information campaign on the new voting procedure, the health security measures and emotional messages of reconciliation with the slogan “The vote is the embrace of the union”, Bolivia was able to achieve one of the best indexes of citizen participation on October 18, 2020: 88.42%.

Voting with paper: is it reliable?

Latin America has an important tradition of paper voting. For many people, it is considered the most reliable way to verify the results of an election and thus avoid suspicion of fraud. Despite technological advances in the region, paper voting continues to be the preferred method, with some exceptions such as Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Beyond the permanence of traditional methods, there was a country that dared to innovate in times of pandemic. On June 6, 2021 the federal and local elections were

Voting in the 2014 Bolivian election. Image by payorivero, licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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held in Mexico, and citizens abroad were authorized to vote. To guarantee the exercise of their political rights, regardless of the state of the pandemic in their countries of residence, the National Electoral Institute (INE) implemented for the first time the online voting, which was an unprecedented event in the region.

In order to use this new voting mechanism, Mexicans living abroad had to log in on the INE portal to verify that they lived abroad and were registered to vote. The electoral institution would then approve their request and give each citizen a unique username and password. On election day, voters could view their virtual ballots on their computer screen.

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Dangerous election campaigns The election campaigns in Latin America generally happen on the streets, particularly at rallies and large candidate presentation events with musical groups and shows.

These great campaigning acts continued despite sanitary restrictions and had evident consequences on political organizations.

For example, five candidates died during the election campaign for regional and local elections in Bolivia in 2021, four of them due to COVID. The same happened in Brazil, a country in which 20 candidates died.

To that number must be added the 82 deaths of candidates and militants who were shot dead during the campaign period.

Although political parties and candidates use and have used digital marketing to reach potential followers, it is not a frequent practice due to the low internet penetration rates in the region. Nevertheless, due to the restrictions imposed by national governments, political parties were forced to innovate their election campaigns. Most of the candidates opted for the use of new technologies, mainly Facebook as a platform to proselytize. A notorious case, although not with positive results, was the candidate Cinthi Fernández in Argentina. She went viral by posting a video on her social media dancing

Image by júbilo haku, licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

(half-naked) tango in front of the congress as part of her campaign to be a deputy in the Open, Simultaneous and Obligatory Primaries (PASO).

Fake news in times of pandemic Fake news and misinformation are common during election periods. In a majority of the cases, this content focussed on candidates and political parties. However, the experiences in Latin America showed that disinformation has also occurred in issues pertaining to the work of electoral institutions.

Due to the increase in online users during the pandemic, this kind of information increased during 2020 and 2021. None of the electoral processes was compromised by disinformation, but the work of Brazil and Peru can be highlighted.

Brazil was a country that dedicated a lot of effort to combat disinformation. With the hashtags “#EuVotoSemFake” (I vote without fake) and #NãoTransmita-

FakeNews (Do not share fake news), the Su- that misinformed the public and retweeted preme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) generated a them giving the official information. At the large amount of information through stra- same time, citizen inquiries were answered tegic alliances. One of the most important throughout the election period. The Peruvipartnerships was the creation of ambassa- an case is important considering the politidors (influencers and well-known people in cal crisis in the country (Peru had a power the country) who transmitted the message vacuum after the resignation of four conof consuming news from journalistic sourc- secutive presidents. Its election was closely es, not believcontested, so ing everything Although life is gradually returning to the amount that comes out normal, the electoral work is not over and of disinforon social netit will have to continue adapting to the mation inworks and alcreased pandemic. ways with the notably). ver if icat ion Although on portals if there are doubts. The most in- life is gradually returning to normal and novative element was the alliance with the little by little we are resuming our activities, Brazilian Soccer Federation and the Brazil- the electoral work is not over and it will have ian professional soccer teams, which togeth- to continue adapting to the pandemic. In er showed false messages and their clarifi- 2022, at least five elections will take place in cation by relating this practice to what the Latin America, with those in Colombia and Video Assistant Referee (VAR) does in con- Costa Rica being the most important since ventional soccer matches. they must elect their respective presidents.

With so many unknowns - if there will be The Peruvian case is just as remarkable, additional waves of the pandemic, if there since the National Office of Electoral Pro- will be infrastructure enough to make cesses (ONPE) put many resources into the voting safe - will there be new experiences administration of its social networks, mainly to analyze? Time will tell.♦ Twitter. On this platform, the Peruvian Community Managers identified the messages

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Corona and the capitalization of the media industry

By Johannes Malmgren

direct, threats to media freedom as authoritarian regimes.

As the corona pandemic emerged and spread, numerous commentators quipped that the pandemic was accompanied by an “infodemic” of misinformation, rumors, and fake news. Such fears provided a welcome pretext for governments seeking to adopt authoritarian measures towards media organizations. Another aspect of the corona crisis is the worsening economic conditions of news media around the world. Such conditions pose as far-reaching, if not always as

Media played a pivotal role during the course of the COVID pandemic crisis. As lockdowns and other restrictions on freedoms were implemented, the interest in, and dependence on, digital news reports attained unprecedented global importance. The pandemic accelerated digitalization, leading to urgent economic crises for many media outlets. At the same time, the media industry is undergoing processes of commercialization, that is, adapting and transforming itself ac-

little plant/Unsplash

cording to commercial logic. This trend is transnational media empires grow. global and entails matters such as the increased amount of advertisements in print The power of the Murdoch empire over media, longer commercial breaks on tele- news media in Australia, and to some degree vision, a blurring of the borders between other nations, is one striking example. Ancommercial, entertainment, and news con- other is the media ownership of oligarchs in tent in some publications, and a general a number of Eastern European countries: a direction of media organizations toward handful of individuals control 75 percent of producing content television viewerwith mass appeal. ship in Ukraine, ac“The corona pandemic has meant As media and comcording to research a paradox for news media of munications scholar at the Swedish record-breaking audiences but a Manfred Knoche Defence Research loss of advertising revenue and has argued, the unAgency. A considderlying cause of erable proportion fewer sales.” commercializaof news media in tion is capitalizathe United States is tion, that is, the increasing integration of owned by a fairly small number of billionthe entire media system into commodity aires, among these Michael Bloomberg and surplus-value production. The capital- and Rupert Murdoch. In addition, tech ization of the media industry billionaires are gaining a foothold in the was occurring long before the U.S. media landscape, for instance, Jeff pandemic, but the pandemic Bezos and Marc Benioff recently bought has accelerated the processes Washington Post and Time respectively. in question in some directions outlined below.

In October 2020, media freedom groups raised concerns against the multinational Economic crisis and owner- investment group PPF acquiring a majority ship concentration stake in the Central European Media The corona pandemic has meant Enterprise (CME), thereby attaining a paradox for news media of considerable media cross-ownership in record-breaking audiences but a number of Central and East European a loss of advertising revenue countries. The concern is that the degree and fewer sales. The rapid of control over the media landscape by a digital transformations brought single actor threatens media diversity and about by the crisis have led to an freedom. economic crisis for numerous media outlets, wiping out news A recent study on the media landscape of media outlets and causing mass Greece, published in the Media for Delayoffs of journalists in many mocracy Monitor 2021, shows that the countries. Such developments lockdowns and economic realities of the aggravate media ownership pandemic hit hard against Greek print meconcentration. As the existence dia, already in a state of protracted recovof smaller, independent news ery after the financial crisis in 2009. Such media is threatened around problems are particularly concerning as the world, the influence of leading news media in Greece are owned national media oligarchies and by entrepreneurs from other sectors of the 11

economy. These owners use the media they own as a means of supporting their business interests, by which they exert pressure on politicians. The authors argue that the hardening grip of a few media moguls on the media industry in Greece adversely affects journalism. Self-censorship, less investigative journalism, and a lack of representation of, and access to, minorities are among the consequences of ownership concentration and economic crisis the authors discern.

Technological crisis As of today, the increasingly important digital environments where people consume news lack legislation and regulation. This makes digital environments inherently unstable and promising targets for hate speech, propaganda, and misinformation.

The digitalization of news and other aspects

12

of life has increased the power of two of the ten most valuable companies in the world, Google and Facebook. While ownership concentration is threatening the diversity of producers of media content, Google and Facebook are alone in providing the gateways that internet consumers and news media alike depend on. The GoogleFacebook duopoly rests upon surveillance of billions of people, managing our collective attention through intimate knowledge on how to capture and keep it.

The power of these tech giants explains why the advertising revenue of print and other news media has collapsed: they simply cannot compete with the tech duopoly.

While the audiences reached through legacy media outlets’ area of coverage becomes less attractive to advertisers, these outlets

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Photo by Stephan Röhl / Wikimedia Commons

are pushed towards collecting more and more personal data of their customers. The dependence of media organizations on the tech duopoly also forces content producers to compete with each other in trying to produce content adjusted to the algorithmic logic of Google and Facebook.

The tech giants and the global information order The existence of a global information order, in which rich countries, in general, and the United States, in particular, receive prominent coverage across the world while developing countries are globally underrepresented, has been noted since at least the 1950s. The economic power of certain states, and the location of prominent international news agencies, are typically posed as explanations for this discrepancy.

While the effects of the information order with regard to media content producers may be somewhat limited by the efforts of regional and local challengers to transnational media organizations, the U.S. big tech corporations enjoy a global presence in which they are virtually unchallenged.

The Facebook Papers, internal documents from the social media giant, revealed to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission by whistleblower Frances Haugen in autumn 2021 have put Facebook under intense scrutiny. The papers show that Facebook dropped many of its efforts at policing violent, misinforming, and hateful speech after the U.S. election, leading to a failure at hindering the organizing of the storming of the Capitol through social media. While the papers have shown that Facebook has inadequate ability to control the dissemination of far-right hate speech in the United States, they also show that Facebook moderation of non-English speaking users is dramatically worse. One of the main points Haugen is trying to raise is that Facebook through inaction allows

Charles Deluvio/Unsplash

incitement of ethnic hatred and violence in countries such as Ethiopia and Myanmar.

The documents show that Facebook is very aware of its destructive impact in the developing world, as the company studies the degree of hate speech it manages to moderate. Facebook nonetheless shies away from committing more than minimal resources in combating such misuse in developing countries.

As digitalization leads to virtually all media, as well as everyday life, becoming increasingly integrated on digital platforms, the problems caused by social life occurring in a non-regulated area controlled by a handful of corporations will increase. The inequalities of representation led prominent media critics and press freedom advocates to call for a New World Information Order in the 1970s. As the global importance of tech giants increases, it is perhaps time to reinvoke this call.♦ 13

Covid and keyboards – How the pandemic accelerated the digital shift

By Laurin Zils COVID-19 has shaken up companies around the world and turned them upside down. Revenues and stock prices plummeted. However, the pandemic has also created an environment of digital transformation.

Deeply embedded structural processes that felt frozen all of a sudden were put to the test and adapted. Why did it require a pandemic to realize these slumbering optimization potentials? The example of the (non-)evolution of the keyboard suggests that crises are sometimes necessary for disruptive innovation.

Paul A. David wrote a vastly cited article about QWERTY in the renowned journal The American Economic Review. He laid the foundation for today’s broadly recognized concept of path dependence. David used the ever-persisting QWERTY keyboard phenomenon to conclude an effect he called “technological lock-in.” Indeed, technology has “locked in” in the case of the QWERTY keyboard. All of this would not have been worth noting had not more efficient keyboard arrangement forms emerged in the meantime. David presented studies that suggested keyboard systems with which users could type significantly faster. However, the QWERTY system was already widespread and had established itself. Users have become accustomed to it and are not willing to change. That is regarded as a technological path, that in that sense, appears irreversible. Over 35 years after publishing David’s essay, QWERTY is still the dominant form of key arrangement, whether on a touchscreen or a physical keyboard.

Life today, for most, appears hardly imaginable without keyboards, whether they enable sending a text message as a digital onscreen-variant or even the writing of this text on a computer. Historically, keyboards evolved from typewriters, which were invented over 150 years ago. Typewriters revolutionized the way society communicated and wrote text. The influence of the typewriter is crucial to ”In essence, the existence of an understanding the already established way of doing modern implications of technologthings, no matter how flawed, ical change. lessens the likelihood of change” Nearly all keyboards used today with Latin alphabet letters printed on them start on the top left with the keys QWERTY (or QWERTZ in some countries). For technical reasons, the QWERTY arrangement was necessary to build typewriters. In 1985, when the modern keyboard was already around, 14

Path dependence is a concept that a variety of scientific disciplines use.

It is embedded in economics and social sciences. As the economist Douglass North put it, path dependence describes the “powerful influence of the past on the present and future.” North and other scholars use the concept in the discipline of the New Institutional Economics to describe the degree of (in-)efficiency of

Daniel Agrelo/pixabay

economic systems. He describes the former Soviet Union as an example of an inflexible institutional framework that is path dependent and thus unable to adapt to new situations.In essence, the existence of an established way of doing things, no matter how flawed, lessens the likelihood of change.

Often, the only chances to deviate from path dependencies are crises or revolutionary moments. Indeed, the QWERTY keyboard alone does not offer much explanatory power on digital transformation processes.

However, on the micro-level, it is an easyto-grasp example of persisting technologies for which more efficient and innovative alternatives have emerged but cannot squeeze through the door because of the path dependent technological lock-in.

This phenomenon is visible in macro-level processes as well.

Recently, the concepts of path dependence and technological lock-ins became relevant again. Companies all over the globe were confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic and

subsequent lockdowns. The pandemic was the beginning of a challenging time for many sectors, including plummeting revenues and organizational changes. Regulations differed between countries. However, for many corporations, the lockdowns and public health measures included the obligation to offer forms of distance-based working. A survey of the management consulting firm McKinsey reported that measures undertaken by companies to adapt to the pandemic sped up technological transformations and the development of digital products by up to seven years. Indeed, the concept of the “home office,” or working remotely, was not invented due to the emergence of COVID-19.

But the speed of its implementation increased vastly throughout the pandemic. The McKinsey study mirrors the discrepancy that companies’ executives reported between the pre-COVID estimated time to implement organizational changes and the actual time required for the implementation during the crisis. In the case of increased remote working and remote collaboration, the actual 15

implementation within organizations moved a staggering 43 times faster than the executives expected before the pandemic.

Implementing company-wide remoteworking measures requires extensive organizational efforts and IT departments saw their workload increase exponentially when lockdown orders came into effect.

Obviously, most workers also needed to be provided with technical equipment that allows working remotely, like laptops or webcams, resulting in vast procurement and set-up efforts for the organizations.

Moreover, companies must also provide data security and integrity. IT has to roll out VPN (Virtual Private Network) channels to ensure secure access to company data outside the organization’s network. The urgency of regulation concerning working from home forced companies to move fast and implement these measures in a short amount of time. Those and other significant means of digital transformations are here to stay. The storm of the COVID-19 crisis offered a chance to deviate from the path of several technological lock-ins.

The McKinsey report further highlights the adoption of digital customer communication channels. Pre-crisis, managers and sales representatives were locked in on visiting customers on-site at their offices.

Speaking in terms of path dependency, had there not been a global COVID-19 pandemic, arguably there would not have been a reason to deviate from visiting customers all over the world. Yes, video conferences and other forms of digital consulting were around before the crisis as well. But the situation proved that customers appreciate creative digital alternatives of consulting and purchasing processes. The demand for digital purchasing services of customers increased 27 times faster than executives expected before COVID-19. These changes are now permanent. Do I still have to fly across the ocean to visit a customer’s site 16

regarding a final purchasing decision?

In some cases, yes. However, deviations from the previous path are apparent and result in many variations of digital customer interactions. Those interactions must not include a human counterpart. The pandemic has introduced increased efforts in the implementation of automated digital interaction channels. The McKinsey report estimates that while the global average share of digital customer interactions accounted for 36% in late (pre-pandemic) 2019, it rose to an estimated share of 58% in mid-pandemic July of 2020.

The question which may arise when reading these figures in the report is, “Why didn’t they change these processes before the pandemic?” Firstly, specific customer demands for digital purchasing services were not as high before COVID-19. Second, and probably most importantly, many executives answered that these measures were not of high priority. Arguably, the observed organizational changes would still be on the low-priority list today, had the pandemic not happened. Why roll out holistic remote working systems when working from the office gets the job done? For the vast majority of employees, working on-site was an organizational lockin. COVID-19 has shaken up the corporate world.

Post-pandemic corporations certainly will include on-site working.

However, employers and employees have realized the advantages of working and collaborating remotely in future hybrid working models.

As another report by the professional services network company Deloitte puts it, COVID-19 has “turned digitization from a nice to have to a must have” as we move towards the next normal in a postpandemic world. Companies’ executives also realized the need to plan for future crises and disruptive situations, as many were not prepared for the situation that

arose in early 2020.

This article does not seek to promote or praise the previously mentioned implementation of remote working and digital customers themselves, as they have apparent downsides. However, their discussion is beyond the scope of this article, which attempts to highlight the increased speed of the adoption of digital processes enabled through the pandemic.

Yet again, it is obvious that while some things evolve, others stay the same, as most of the work in modern corporate post-COVID environments will be conducted with the help of keyboards. QWERTY keyboards.♦

Stefan Stefancik/Unsplash

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”Yes, she’ll do”

the increase of ch

20

ild marriages in the wake of covid-19

By Vilma Ellemark Death rates, lockdowns and social distancing are what we normally have come to associate with the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, in the wake of this health crisis there are also numerous structural problems that have been exacerbated, such as the issue of child marriage. After discussing why child marriage happens, why it is problematic and how the pandemic has worsened this issue one message becomes clear: Equal access to vaccines is crucial to re-open societies and turn the downward trend where more and more girls have to say: “Yes, I do.”

“One, two…” On the count of three a girl under the age of 18 has likely gotten married somewhere in the world. Child marriage, which mostly affects girls but also boys is a widespread problem known to restrict the rights of children and hamper development.

Children and adolescents are either forced to enter marriage or do so by choice due to a number of reasons, including poverty and social norms, according to the organization Girls Not Brides. For example, when a family experiences poverty, marrying off a daughter is sometimes seen as a way to decrease the family’s financial burden. In cultures where it is custom that the bride’s family pays a dowry, it is usually lower for younger and uneducated girls, which explains why younger girls are married off. However, girls sometimes also enter marriage by their own choice. Marriage can raise a girl’s status as a wife and later

on mother, as well as secure financial stability. Due to gender discrimination and social norms, girls face greater barriers to education and income, which makes them more economically dependent on men.

Consequently, marriage is often seen as an opportunity to secure an income when more conventional paths are blocked.

Regardless of whether girls enter marriage by free will or by force, studies have shown that child marriage is highly problematic and has a number of negative consequences, both for the girls and for society as a whole.

According to the organization Equality now, girls married at a young age face greater risks of domestic violence because of the power imbalance in marriages between younger girls and older men. The same imbalance also often makes it difficult for the girls to negotiate contraceptives with their partners, resulting in early pregnancies which are dangerous for the girls’ health. Since girls’ bodies are not fully developed, pregnant girls between 15 and 19 years old face greater risks of complications during the pregnancy as well as infant mortality. They are also more likely to have a difficult time accessing medical care during the pregnancy which exacerbates this problem further. On a more societal level, child marriage tends to cause a vicious cycle of poverty, according to Plan International and Girlsnotbrides.

Although girls sometimes get married to secure financial stability, marriage often means that they quit school earlier, which only diminishes their future economic opportunities and independence. Instead of 21

becoming economic actors providing their lies this has meant losing parts of or all of families with a higher income and thereby their income which increases the risk that contributing to society’s overall economic they will marry off their daughters to gain development, child brides tend to end up in economic stability, according to the UN. poverty with their new families. Recalling The pandemic restrictions have also meant that poverty causes that many schools “When a family experiences povchild marriage in have had to close. erty, marrying off a daughter is the first place, this Accordingly, girls’ means that these sometimes seen as a way to de- access to educafamilies might have tion has been even crease the family’s financial to marry off their more restricted burden.” own girls, passing which risks driving on poverty to future them towards margenerations. riage instead. Finally, the UN also warns that lockdowns and social distance restricThe international work to combat child tions have complicated activities seeking marriage has been extensive, with the issue to prevent child marriage. This is because being adressed as one of the top targets to services and awareness campaigns have attain Sustainable Development Goal nr 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. During the past ten years there has been a positive development with women getting married before the age of 18 decreasing from almost one in four to one in five globally, according to the United Nations. However, the UN also warns that the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted these advancements and expects 10 million more girls to become married by 2030 than the original estimations. The big question at hand is of course: why so?

It is widely established that the issue of child marriage worsen during crises. According to Girls Not Brides, 20% more girls were married during the crises in Yemen and South Sudan. This is because the normal risk factors for child marriage often worsen during hard times, including increased poverty and more limited access to education. Both of these factors fit the situation that has arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing, business closures and travel restrictions resulting from the health crisis have together generated an economic downturn. For many fami22

not been able to function normally.

Child marriage is a widespread and problematic phenomenon which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic because of school closures, social distance restrictions and the economic downturn. While we in the Global North have started to re-open societies and return to life like it was before Covid-19, the pandemic is far from over in other parts of the world. In Ethiopia, which belongs to the top five countries where child marriage is most prevalent, only about 2,3% of the population is vaccinated, according to Reuters’ Covid-19 tracker. Schools are still recommended to remain closed, meaning that girls are at a higher risk of being married than normal due to limited access

to education. For countries in the Global North that adopted the SDG goals it should therefore be of greater interest to solve the current unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines across the globe. Not just because this inequality is inherently and morally unfair, but also because girls are negatively affected in ways we have claimed to work against. One, two, and another girl is married on three. Time is ticking.♦

▼UN Regional Goodwill Ambassador Jaha Dukureh speaks at It’s Time! A Collaboration to End Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): A civil society sponsored Parallel Event to the 62nd Annual UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2018. Image by UN Women Gallery, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The Shadow Pandemic: Intimate terrorism in times of crises

By Kathina Mehring According to UN Women, 1 out of 3 women worldwide will experience physical or sexual abuse throughout their life, most prevalently committed by an intimate partner. This constitutes a systematic human rights violation, and for decades domestic abuse has been considered a global crisis.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 however, all types of violence against women and girls have drastically intensified, leading to UN Women, among others, deeming it a `shadow pandemic´ within the pandemic. Particularly domestic abuse has been

flourishing as residents have been urged to stay home to protect themselves and others, notwithstanding that for some, home is a dangerous place. Correspondingly, this article will discuss how domestic violence was revealed to be a major topic lacking governmental action during the COVID-19 outbreak in multiple Western European countries.

Domestic abuse – more precisely coined intimate terrorism – is a form of abuse of an individual perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner, commonly at a shared place of residence. According to a 1992 paper from Judith Lewis Herman, a renowned trau-

ma expert at Harvard University, domestic abuse is based on coDo you live in Sweden and are affected by any ercive methods, like of these issues? violence or the threat of violence if the Kvinnofridslinjen 020-50 50 50, is a national support victim doesn’t comhelp-line for those subjected to violence in intimate ply with the abuser’s relationships. Though the staff speaks Swedish, they rules. These methods have access to interpreters in most languages spohighly resemble those ken in Sweden. Their phones are open 24/7 and the utilized by kidnappers call does not show up on your phone bill. and repressive regimes to control hostages and Välj att sluta 020-555 666 is a national confidential break the will of prisphoneline offering advice, information and support in oners. Domestic abuse order to prevent you from being violent and abusive not only includes to your partner, children or ex-partner. Their phones physical violence or are open Monday-Friday 8.30-16.00. The call does not violent threats though. show up on your phone bill. Välj att sluta have access Abusers can also gain to interpreters in case you need advice in other control over a partner languages than Swedish. through social isolation and the withholdIn case of immediate danger to yours or someone ing of basic necessielses life, call 112. ties like food, sleep and shelter. Over time, domestic abuse often though that domestic abuse also happens causes profound changes in the victims identity, their sense of auton- to men and equally occurs in queer omy and self. This makes it especially hard relationships, as NBC reported in 2020. to leave an abusive relationship: with all Especially those in same-sex relationships outside relationships stripped away, `trau- might additionally suffer from stereotypes matic bonding´ kicks in, as the victim is in- insisting that domestic abuse is carried out creasingly dependent on the perpetrator in by men against women, which might stop survivors from reaching out. leading daily life.

Importantly, not everybody is equally hard hit by domestic abuse - women are disproportionately affected. Those marginalized by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, citizenship status, gender identity or cognitive physical ability, as so often, are also harder hit with 1 in 2 suffering from domestic abuse in the US, compared to `only´ 1 in 3 white women, according to Time Magazine. It is important to note

Domestic abuse has always been a problem in societies worldwide. But as the coronavirus swept through country after country, domestic abuse emerged as another public health crisis, thriving in the conditions created by the pandemic. In a matter of days after announcing lockdowns, European countries were hit with the `shadow pandemic´: in Spain, domestic abuse helplines saw a rise of 18% in calls in 25

the first two weeks of the lockdown, the New York Times reports. The Refuge helpline in the UK even recorded an increase of nearly 150% in daily calls from April 2020 to February 2021 compared to January-March 2020. Unlike western countries, developing countries experienced reverse effects, as calling a hotline was made nearly impossible for those with lower socio-economic backgrounds who have to share a room with their abuser, BBC News reported. Although these numbers are already worrisome as they are, they are most likely only the tip of the iceberg as it is believed that less than 40% of those experiencing domestic abuse actually seek help of any kind, including calling helplines.

The observed rise in statistics corresponds to studies showing that domestic abuse can escalate during and after large-scale crises like the pandemic. The researcher Mohsen Rezaeian writes that “being exposed to natural disasters such as tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, and flood increases the [domestic] violence”. With families spending more time together instead of going to work and school, abuse during lockdowns naturally increased. Economic distress and a lack of social support resulting from layoffs, loss of income and extended domestic stays, additionally fuelled the abuse. Yet, it is important to note that the pandemic does not make an abuser, but rather exacerbates abusive behaviour.

Although governments could have seen this `shadow pandemic´ coming, they largely failed to account for how their new public health measures would increase intimate terrorism. This left states – whose institutions to protect those affected by domestic violence were already underfunded under normal circumstances – struggling to respond to increased demands. As lockdown measures were 26

put in place, the New York Times reported that governments across Europe resorted to renting empty hotel rooms to serve as makeshift shelters. However, the task of writing guidance on how survivors can report abuse while keeping themselves safe was left to national charities, the research report ‘Covid-19: a public health approach to manage domestic violence is needed’ by Chandan et al (2020), published in The Lancet Public Health Journal found. Even though the UN Secretary General António Guterres through a tweet in 2020 urged all governments to put women’s safety first when responding to the pandemic, many governments failed to follow through.

In France, the government ordered police officers, pharmacy and supermarket workers to attend training on how to spot and help victims of domestic abuse during the first wave of COVID-19, Tagesschau reported. Yet, many measures, like their national helpline, turned out to be flawed, as offices were heavily understaffed or workers were transferred to different offices to fight the pandemic. This response is symptomatic of the lacking governmental priority given to measures tackling domestic abuse.

UN Women, however, highlights a notable exception to the poor response by Western European governments: Spain whose Ministry of Equality ensured all along that specialized services for domestic abuse survivors like emergency shelters are deemed essential, open 24 hours a day. The Ministry also launched an information campaign to raise awareness about the services available and published a guide for those suffering abuse during lockdown.

Nonetheless, the picture of government response across Western Europe is bleak, painted by underfunded institutions and an ineffective response. The physical confine-

ment brought about by public health measures, combined with the psychological impact of both prolonged abuse and other pandemic-induced trauma has made an already unacceptable situation worse for victims. We can only hope that elected officials and the public at large have become more aware of the global crisis of domestic abuse as the relation between physical insecurity and economic insecurity has suddenly been laid bare by the coronavirus. It is now in the hands of governments worldwide to ensure that the lives of those affected by domestic abuse will not, and never again, be forgotten.♦

Salman Hossain Saif/Unsplash

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Global Connectivity Rethinking the relationship between humans and nature in a post-pandemic reality

By Dominique Keizer Lockdown. A keyword that for many has come to be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Closed public spaces, lack of social interactions and rapidly changing economies. The images of empty streets became a discursive tool that confronted us with new imaginations of what space means and especially how it is situated within an ecosystem. During the initial months of lockdown, news outlets in many European cities discussed the return of nature due to decreased human mobility and the resulting drop in CO2 emissions. But then, one might ask, where did nature go?

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This position itself poses a serious question of what is being lost in the quest of economic growth.

The need to construct an exclusively human world is according to Dr Sharon Blackie a paradox that has led to insanity.

To quote her words: “[…] when we lose our relationship with the land and the other creatures around us, then in the deepest sense, we lose ourselves […].” In a way, the current tendency to put humans as agents above nature distorts the natural cycles of an ecosystem which otherwise is capable of self-preservation. We humans are part of this bionetwork.

Therefore, perhaps instead of questioning the return of nature we should listen to what nature is trying to tell us. Rising sea levels, extreme weather shifts, and contaminated waters are only a few examples of the ecological consequences that the world is facing. The extensive use of sanitization chemicals and disposable face masks, among other single use plastics, has only added toxic material to the environment.

These protective tools, while playing an important role in limiting the spread of the virus, have also exacerbated the already visible

Dhaya Eddine/Unsplash

ecological concerns. Meaning, destructive events are, to a great extent, caused by human dissociation from an interconnected ecosystem.

main driver of forest loss. This mainly occurs in the Southern hemisphere and specifically in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. For that reason, according to Conservation International (CI), a The post pandemic reality needs to be adop- non-profit environmental organisation, ruted as a wake-up call to evaluate business as ral areas in the tropics and indigenous terusual, which is favoured as a means to mi- ritories are being destroyed. Consequently, tigate the recent economic slowdown. The it is forcing wildlife habitats to migrate to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is other areas, whilst exposing wild specione example of what a strictly human-cen- es to domesticated animals and humans. tered world results in and what business as What that means for future animal-borne usual actually entails in broader terms. The illnesses is yet to be researched, though it mismatch between supply and demand has is already alarming to note. COVID-19 has led to high inshown how such dicome countriseases can spread ”The post-pandemic reality needs to be es off-shoring rapidly. Yet, ecoadopted as a wake-up call to evaluate resource-innomic imperatives business as usual.” tense producalongside their imtion. The high pact on nature are demand for meat consumption, mainly in still scarcely discussed as relevant.

Europe and Asia, created a space for economic activity in areas with available re- Meat consumption, however, is only partisources. The Our World in Data project has ally driving the destructive disconnection shown how pastures for beef and soy are the between humans and nature. The

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distortions in international trade during the pandemic have shown the dependency of many countries on low-cost labour and fragile supply chains. In economic terms, until the closing of borders, both aspects allowed economic gain, while simultaneously destroying the environment. Stores around the world faced lack of sufficient supplies, meaning the over consumption patterns visible in the society are undoubtedly based on externally produced cheap goods. Recently, decreased free cross border movement has led to inflation.

of uncontrolled growth is like creating an invisible wall around the market. At the same time, one can argue that infiltrating an ecosystem artificially for economic gains also equals the enslavement of nature. In Aldous Huxley’s science fiction novel “Brave New World”, a lack of sufficient consumption was considered a crime against society. The book was written in 1931. Yet, it describes precisely the ‘utopia’ people are currently made to believe in. Advertisements for products are designed discursively to make us believe that they guide our happiness patterns and fill the hollowness inside us. But, what if the destruction of nature for the sake The clothing industry in Bangladesh shows of these products creates the emptiness that how offshoring these advertisements to countries with promise to fill? ”If one imagines what is already low-cost labour destroyed, is this loss worth the return allows for frequWith that in mind, to economic growth?” ent change in asmaybe business sortment to meet as usual is just a the demand of the consumers. Besides the vicious cycle that only keeps economic disproportionate value between local wage inequalities intact and serves to preserve and final product price, waters around the the not-so-utopian values described factories are contaminated with the chemi- by Huxley. Nostalgia towards the pre cals used for production. As in the case of pandemic lifestyle is broadly recognised. the economic activities in the forest areas, What about the nostalgia towards the species residing close to the clothing indu- disappearing ecological diversity? If one stry are prone to toxicity and thus, for sur- imagines what is already destroyed, is this vival reasons, migrate to nearby unpolluted loss worth the return to economic growth? areas. This results in the offshoring of not Both the deforestation of the Amazon and only production but also pollution which the clothing industry in Bangladesh portray makes economic activity incompatible the often dark reality behind investments, with sustainable natural habitats in the pro- whether for infrastructural projects or duction sites. consumption products. Perhaps the current pandemic, in this understanding, is just Colombian philosopher and anthropologist, another consequence of intending to invent Arturo Escobar stated: “Historically, the a strictly human-centric world.♦ production of surplus with the concomitant social and institutional differentiation allowed humans to emancipate themselves from nature, albeit at the price of enslaving part of the population.” These words reflect ►Grampians National Park, Australia. the reality that lies behind consumer practiImage by Manuel Meurisse/Unsplash ces that can also be defined as ideological.

The emancipation from nature for the sake 30

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Utblick Magazine is a magazine under the umbrella of The Society of International Affairs in Gothenburg. The Society of International Affairs in Gothenburg (Utrikespolitiska föreningen i Göteborg – UF) is a politically and religiously independent association that belongs to Utrikespolitiska förbundet Sverige (UFS). We have sister associations represented in ten other UF cities. We arrange lectures, Model United Nations, broadcast radio and publish our magazine Utblick.

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