Day: March 30, 2024

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV EXPRESSED CONDOLENCES ON TRAGEDY IN VIRGINIA, US  AZERTAC News

Iranian journalists reveal extent of threats as presenter recovers from ‘shock’ attack  The National

Migrants under pressure in Moscow

After the terrorist attack at the Moscow “Crocus City Hall,” for which several citizens of Tajikistan are accused, Tajik nationals in Russia have faced increased levels of ethnic hostility, fear, and mistrust from the local population. They have become targets of attacks, workplace discrimination, as well as assaults and threats from xenophobic groups.

On the morning after March 22, messages about beatings appeared in Tajik community chats. Tajikistanis warned each other not to be outside in the evenings. As Rustam, a worker living in Moscow, told “Novaya Gazeta Evropa,” he doesn’t plan to go to work in the coming days because he fears attack.

Street attacks on Tajikistanis have occurred in Moscow, the Moscow region town of Fryazino, and Blagoveshchensk. According to “Mediazona,” observers documenting videos of street violence by far-right groups report that in the past few days, videos have emerged showing at least four people being sprayed with gas from pepper spray canisters and five others being beaten.

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The Russian government is also monitoring the activity of citizens from Tajikistan on social media. In St. Petersburg, a 26-year-old Tajik citizen was charged with terrorism justification for comments about the terrorist attack at “Crocus City Hall” in Moscow.

Across the country, raids on migrants are taking place. On March 27, the police and Rosgvardia checked the documents of migrants working at the Wildberries warehouse in the Moscow suburb of Elektrostal.

Since March 23, such raids have taken place in Moscow, Moscow region, Volgograd, Tula, annexed Sevastopol, Saratov, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Nizhnevartovsk, and Nefteyugansk. Police mostly draw up protocols for migrants violating migration laws, and some are required to leave the country.

“We hope we won’t be deported. The recent events in Moscow deeply saddened us. In recent years, the situation with migrants has been difficult. Hopefully, everything will improve, and we can continue working,” said Firdavs Zaymuddinov, who works at a construction site in the Samara region, to Your.tj.

Such close attention from the police and special services puts pressure on employers, who find it easier to terminate (often improperly documented) labor relations with an employee than undergo constant checks and endure sudden raids.

“Employers haven’t told us anything personally. But I heard them say that all these non-Russians should be sent back to their homeland. Now, after these events, we rarely go out on the streets and are cautious,” said Farhodi Dilfigor, a builder from Mytishchi, near Moscow, to Your.tj.

Amid the raids and crackdowns, the Russian Ministry of Labor proposed limiting labor contracts with migrant workers to two years. Additionally, the Ministry of Labor proposed introducing mandatory fingerprinting for migrants. They also want foreigners to provide documentary evidence of their proficiency in Russian, as well as knowledge of Russian legislation and history.

Migrants also face other problems – they are refused service, rental agreements are terminated, and they are denied the most basic human rights.

According to Russian demographers, to maintain production at the current level, Russia needs to attract 390,000 migrant workers annually. Therefore, the participation of labor migrants from Central Asian countries plays a crucial role in maintaining and developing Russian infrastructure, construction, and agriculture.

Russian authorities act without regard to the fact that such treatment of migrants harms not only their safety but primarily the economic development of Russia. Because amid war and tightening migration policies, fewer people want to go there to work.

Zhenya Snezhkina,

Media Network

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Jakarta, indonesia — Roads turned into murky brown rivers, homes were swept away by strong currents and bodies were pulled from mud during deadly flash floods and landslides after torrential rains hit West Sumatra in early March, marking one of the latest deadly natural disasters in Indonesia. 

Government officials blamed the floods on heavy rainfall, but environmental groups have cited the disaster as the latest example of deforestation and environmental degradation intensifying the effects of severe weather across Indonesia. 

“This disaster occurred not only because of extreme weather factors, but because of the ecological crisis,” Indonesian environmental rights group Indonesian Forum for the Environment wrote in a statement. “If the environment continues to be ignored, then we will continue to reap ecological disasters.” 

A vast tropical archipelago stretching across the equator, Indonesia is home to the world’s third-largest rainforest, with a variety of endangered wildlife and plants, including orangutans, elephants, giant and blooming forest flowers. Some live nowhere else. 

For generations the forests have also provided livelihoods, food, and medicine while playing a central role in cultural practices for millions of Indigenous residents in Indonesia. 

Since 1950, more than 74 million hectares (285,715 square miles) of Indonesian rainforest — an area twice the size of Germany — have been logged, burned or degraded for development of palm oil, paper and rubber plantations, mining and other commodities according to Global Forest Watch. 

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil, one of the largest exporters of coal and a top producer of pulp for paper. It also exports oil and gas, rubber, tin and other resources. And it also has the world’s largest reserves of nickel — a critical material for electric vehicles, solar panels and other goods needed for the green energy transition. 

Vulnerable to climate change

Indonesia has consistently ranked as one of the largest global emitters of plant-warming greenhouse gases, with its emissions stemming from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and peatland fires, according to the Global Carbon Project. 

It’s also highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including extreme events such as floods and droughts, long-term changes from sea level rise, shifts in rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures, according to the World Bank. In recent decades, the country has already seen the effects of climate change: More intense rains, landslides and floods during rainy season, and more fires during a longer dry season. 

But forests can help play a vital role in reducing the impact of some extreme weather events, said Aida Greenbury, a sustainability expert focusing on Indonesia. 

Flooding can be slowed by trees and vegetation soaking up rainwater and reducing erosion. In dry season, forests release moisture that helps mitigate the effects of droughts, including fires. 

But when forests diminish, those benefits do as well. 

A 2017 study reported that forest conversion and deforestation expose bare soil to rainfall, causing soil erosion. Frequent harvesting activities — such as done on palm oil plantations — and the removal of ground vegetation leads to further soil compaction, causing rain to run off the surface instead of entering groundwater reservoirs. Downstream erosion also increases sediment in rivers, making rivers shallower and increasing flood risks, according to the research. 

After the deadly floods in Sumatra in early March, West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah said there were strong indications of illegal logging around locations affected by floods and landslides. That, coupled with extreme rainfall, inadequate drainage systems and improper housing development contributed to the disaster, he said. 

Experts and environmental activists have pointed to deforestation worsening disasters in other regions of Indonesia as well: In 2021, environmental activists partially blamed deadly floods in Kalimantan on environmental degradation caused by large-scale mining and palm oil operations. In Papua, deforestation was partially blamed for floods and landslides that killed more than 100 people in 2019. 

There have been some signs of change: In 2018 Indonesian President Joko Widodo put a three-year freeze on new permits for palm oil plantations. And the rate of deforestation slowed between 2021-2022, according to government data. 

But experts warn that it’s unlikely deforestation in Indonesia will stop anytime soon as the government continues to move forward with new mining and infrastructure projects such as new nickel smelters and cement factories. 

“A lot of land use and land-based investment permits have already been given to businesses, and a lot of these areas are already prone to disasters,” said Arie Rompas, an Indonesia-based forestry expert at Greenpeace. 

President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is scheduled to take office in October, has promised to continue Widodo’s policy of development, including large-scale food estates, mining and other infrastructure development that are all linked to deforestation. 

Watchdogs say protections weakening

Environmental watchdogs also warn that environmental protections in Indonesia are weakening, including the passing of the controversial Omnibus Law, which eliminated an article of the Forestry Law regarding the minimum area of forest that must be maintained at development projects. 

“The removal of that article makes us very worried (about deforestation) for the years to come,” said Rompas. 

While experts and activists recognize that development is essential for Indonesia’s economy to continue to go, they argue that it should be done in a way that considers the environment and incorporates better land planning. 

“We can’t continue down the same path we’ve been on,” said sustainability expert Greenbury. “We need to make sure that the soil, the land in the forest doesn’t become extinct.”