In an attempt to stop wild animal smuggling through Bole International Airport, The Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) plans to deploy four detection dogs.
The dogs will come from Holland and will be trained to sniff and to catch rhinoceros horns, pangolin scales and ivory tusks at the airport’s custom security gates.
EWCA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Airport Enterprise, Federal Police, Custom Office and Information Network Security Agency so they can work together to get the dogs here faster.
Sponsorship by the Africa Wildlife Conservation (AWF) made it possible to purchase the dogs. Six Ethiopians will be trained in Tanzania to handle the dogs.
Bole International Airport has been identified as a major transit hub for wildlife trafficking, which was clearly evidenced in the recent report of Wildlife Crime.
Between 2011 and 2015, more than 700 people were arrested in connection with illegal ivory trafficking. A majority of those arrested at BIA were transit passengers with a sizeable number of passengers picking Ethiopia as their first departure location. An analysis of the origins of the flights from which ivory and wildlife products were detected at BIA in Ethiopia shows that flights from Nigeria and Angola took the largest share 20.45 percent and 19 percent of arrests respectively followed by DR Congo 8.99 percent Equatorial Guinea 8.82 percent , Ghana 6 percent and Congo Brazzaville 5.5 percent. However, the origins of the ivory tusks are not known and therefore subject to speculation.
Daniel Pawlos, EWCA Wild Life Traffic Director told Capital that the sniffing dogs will help Ethiopia combat illegal wildlife trafficking.
“It is a shame to see such a huge volume of wildlife trafficking in our country, we have an institution to combat this so we need to do something and getting dogs that can sniff out wild animal parts is a first step,” Daniel told Capital that the cost has not yet been determined.
Elephants, lions, tigers and rhinoceros are targets of illegal hunting and trafficking in Ethiopia and the demand for lions’ bone for traditional medicine is exacerbating illegal lion hunting.
The illegal trade of wildlife is the fourth most lucrative black market in the world – worth around USD 20 billion a year and impacting more than 7,000 species of animals and plants. Criminal organizations involved in wildlife trafficking are often directly connected to other trafficking networks, including the smuggling of narcotics, arms and people and exploit the increasing connectivity of global air transportation to traffic the endangered species. The air cargo industry is one of the key aviation sectors acting to break the supply chain from source to consumer.
Dogs to help sniff out smuggling
Agency expected to suspend neck sleeve packaging on bottled water
The National Standardization Council, which is responsible for approving the national quality and standardization strategy proposed by the Ethiopian Standard Agency (ESA), is expected to suspend neck sleeve packaging on bottled water and juice when it meets later this month.
The council that meets every three months is expected to undertake its fourth and last meeting for the current budget year in this month. The meeting will evaluate several issues related with standards.
According to Ethiopian Bottled Water and Soft Drinks Manufacturing Industries Association (EBWSDMIA), the process got a green light by ESA who is responsible to table the case for the council, which is chaired by Fetlework Gebregziabher, Minister of Trade and Industry.
For the past one year since its formation, the association has been lobbying relevant government bodies, bottlers besides conducting a detailed study for the contribution and effect of the neck sleeves packaging, which is common in Ethiopia’s water industry.
Ashenafi Merid, General Manager of EBWSDMIA, told Capital that not only the study of the association but others like Ethiopian Environment and Climate Change Commission indicated that the production has negative impact for the environment since the packaging is plastic and is difficult to collect.
“The packaging is very small and cannot be easily retrieved so it will affect the environment,” Ashenafi explained.
Ashenafi reminded that the association’s study covered three areas that include the benefit of neck sleeves on the health aspect, economic and environmental aspects.
“Regarding the economic aspect for instance there are about 80 water bottlers in the country the use of neck sleeves on their packaging based on their capacity each bottlers allocate from USD 30,000 to 40,000 to import the packaging, which is a huge cost for the factories,” he said. He added that it affects the environment, while there is no contribution for the health or quality of the production that is proved on other countries. “As per our study Ethiopia is the only country that use neck sleeves on packaging,” he explained.
Solomon Tadele, Director General of Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Development Institute told Capital that neck sleeves packaging is not common in other countries and it is not mandatory on Ethiopia’s standardization rule.
Solomon said that such kind of packaging is costing the factories by importing machines for the specific packaging, additional labour cost for the operation besides importing unnecessary raw material.
He reminded that quality is not related with such packaging.
Ashenafi noted that by tradition pioneer water bottlers started the neck sleeves packaging followed by the late comers, but it could not be a measurement for standard or quality.
He said that several relevant government bodies have accepted their argument to stop using the packaging. Solomon confirmed that the institute wrote a support letter for ESA as per the request of the association.
The association head said that Food, Medicine and Healthcare Administration and Control Authority and Ethiopian Environment and Climate Change Commission supported the proposal of the association and wrote a letter for the agency to suspend using packaging on the water or juice bottling.
Ashenafi said that the technical committee under the agency that comprised several experts and relevant bodies including the association evaluated the case. “In April we presented our detailed study for the committee,” he added.
He explained that that the agency is expected to file the case for the council to give a final decision that would impose restriction factories to suspend using neck sleeves on their production.
The council has about 14 members including pertinent government body like Food, Medicine and Healthcare Administration and Control Authority, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture and Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association from the private sector.
It is the higher body which approves the national quality and standardization strategy proposed by the agency, and the council determines products for the use of national standard mark and also approve mandatory standard requirements which are proposed by the respective national technical committee on a certain products and services standards which are to be regulated from the safety, health, environmental and national security.
The Continuing Battle Between Europeanism and Euroskepticism
The results of May 2019 European elections for the new European Parliament show significant losses for the two main groups, the centre-right European People’s Party and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats. They remain the largest groups but have lost their traditional majority in the European Parliament. The Greens and Liberal groups have made gains, as well as the right-wing nationalist and populist groups. This unexpected electoral success has turned the erstwhile ‘fringe idealists’ into potential kingmakers in Brussels
Emma Graham-Harrison of the Guardian newspaper reported that on election day in three European capitals at the end of May, voters swept an insurgent party to the top of the polls for the new European parliament. But, contrary to widespread media speculation in the run-up to the poll, it was not the far-right populists who triumphed at the ballot box in Belgium, Germany and Ireland. Instead, in all these countries Green parties won the highest number of votes, spearheading a continent-wide surge that looks likely to transform their political role within Europe.
The Greens are part of a cohesive and powerful bloc in a newly fractured European parliament in a grouping with progressive regional and “pirate” parties of the European Free Alliance, together holding nearly 10% of votes. Two centrist groupings, broadly conservative and social democrat, had between them controlled the parliament since it was formed, but their stranglehold has been broken.
They will now need support from other blocs to pass legislation and appoint the powerful commissioners and other top posts. Four big jobs are vacant: the presidencies of the European commission, the European council and the European Central Bank, as well as the high representative for foreign policy. Evaluating the election result, Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank said that “Greens could be kingmakers in the decision process,”
This year’s election showcased the expected fight between the voters outlook of Europeanism and Euroskepticism. In 1972, the first-ever referendum was held on a topic related to European integration: 68.3% of French voters agreed on membership of the United Kingdom in the then-European Economic Community. In 2016, not returning the earlier favor of the French, a narrow majority of British voters opted for leaving the European Union. The Brexit Vote was the 50th referendum held on an issue related to European integration.
Ludger Kuhnhardt, Director of the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) at the University of Bonn, Germany argued that there is just one problem with this exercise in democracy: With increasing levels of European integration, more and more people outside the country holding a referendum are affected by its result. The failed European Constitution was the most powerful example to this day. While a majority of EU citizens in a majority of EU member states had voted “yes” in 2003, relative majorities of those going to the polls in just two countries, France and the Netherlands, killed the constitution by saying “no.”
Ludger Kuhnhardt noted that little thought has been given to accommodate that misconstruction. But addressing this question is all the more important as a veritable wave of new referenda is waiting in the wings. In Italy, the focus may be on banking union, in Hungary on refugee settlement. As long as no pan-European referendum exists, these national votes end up distorting the picture of what European citizens want rather exponentially. That leaves in the hands of one country what affects all. The recent British referendum is the best example for this. Think of all the follow-on effects, whether on the Gibraltar-Spain issue, the impact on Ireland north and South, on global trade relations of the EU or on the prospects for EU defense.
Andres Ortega, Senior research fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute, a major Spanish foreign affairs think tank argued that the referenda is also a profoundly undemocratic exercise: The number of citizens in Europe who are not able to cast their vote compared, but have to live with the consequences of that vote, is immense. What is seen, by some, as a great leap forward in democratizing politics in fact turns into a substantial problem as it ends up delegitimizing politics in Europe.
According to Andres Ortega, referenda have become weapons of populist politics. They are intended to challenge the often boring and daunting processes of democratically elected and legitimized representative organs. They ultimately lead to the worst outcome, confusing representative democracy as defined by John Locke, and plebiscitary democracy as defined by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This is the inevitable consequence when the two concepts are matched.
Here, people observed the process of creating deliberate confusion and false promises. This is precisely what the British Tories set out to do when they resolved to use the referendum on EU membership as a tool to tame the forces of populism and cool off public sentiments, including in their own ranks. The result is predictable enough: all-out paralysis. The people on the winning side now expect a result which the politicians will likely not be able to deliver, at least not without inflicting serious domestic pain.
The effort to promise a rosy garden, which many of the Leave campaigners resorted to, is bound to become their undoing.
From May 23rd to May 26th, more than 400 million Europeans voted in one of the largest democratic undertakings in the world (India’s is larger still) to elect the European Parliament. That chamber co-legislates with the European Council on many matters, and acts as a sounding board for a nascent European consciousness. The support harvested by the nationalist-populists and other Euroskeptics are an important gauge to look out for after the elections. They will have a crucial impact, for example, on some decisions taken by the European Parliament, such as the sanctions to be applied against countries threatening democratic norms and the rule of law, like Poland and Hungary, two countries where the Euroskeptics are strong.
Many of these Euroskeptics have changed their tune during the campaign. They know that the EU has gained in popularity, including in Hungary and more so in Poland, where people have a positive perception of their membership of the Union. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally now no longer advocates leaving the euro, but it does support a return to strong national borders and a Europe of sovereign states. The governments of recalcitrant countries, including Italy, may also choose to nominate fiercely anti-European figures as candidates for the College of Commissioners. This could potentially cause the institution to malfunction, even if the new Commission President assigns them secondary posts.
Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska stated that here are precedents. In certain cases, candidates aspiring to the Commission have been rejected for their past, albeit prior to their candidacies being made official. At the same time, the nationalist-populists or the hard-right do not form a cohesive unit. These forces are still too disparate and unalike to the regret primarily of Steve Bannon and his movement, to shatter the European project on the EU scale.
In any case, these European Parliament elections mark a new, more complex political era, with more challenges but also new possibilities. A key question is how the most pro-European parties, beyond the election of the President of the Commission, subsequently come together with an inspiring project for the EU. There is a clear need for not just halting but reversing the shift toward nationalist-populist movements.
