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Saturday’s letters: Freedom of religion not an absolute right

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Not for the first time, I find myself in disagreement with the case made by John Carpay whose current position as president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has him appearing to suggest that freedom of religion is protected in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as though it is an “absolute right.” He appears to ignore the fact that all rights in the Charter, including freedom of religion, can be limited by reasonable laws which can be justifiably sustained in a democracy.

I am inclined to support the accuracy of the position put forward by Prof. Eric Adams that suggests that in a time of pandemic and a patently urgent health crisis, reasonable health orders placing limitations on how people may gather would be considered justifiable. The limitations on the conditions under which people may gather for church gatherings have been accepted by the vast majority of churches and religious groups worldwide as well as in Edmonton.

What may not be clear however, is whether or not the government has merely provided “guidelines” to church communities or whether the restrictions are in any way intended to be legally binding.

Frank Peters, Edmonton

Danielle Smith’s vaccination claims outrageous

Re. “Who will chart the path back to political balance?” Danielle Smith, March 19

I usually find Daniele Smith’s column simply annoying, often filled with highly selective information, employed to prove a point. However, her column published in this Friday’s Journal is offensive and outrageous. Smith invokes the Nuremberg Codes to argue that public health measures incentivizing people to get one of the COVID vaccines are authoritarian in the extreme. The Nuremberg Codes were brought into place in response to horrendous, often racially motivated “medical experiments” in Nazi concentration camps. The subjects of these experiments typically did not survive.

Let’s be clear: vaccination saves lives. Large numbers of unvaccinated individuals guarantee that the virus, including the variants, will continue to circulate in the population, putting everyone at risk. Vaccine hesitancy is a complicated and sensitive matter, however, does any rational person really believe that a code meant to prevent atrocities applies to public health measures designed to save lives? Ms. Smith’s column is outrageous and misleading.

Anthony McClellan, Edmonton

Grateful to AHS for seamless vaccinations

We can all complain, we can all find fault but I have to write to say that our vaccination experience for my family from booking to vaccination has been exemplary. For Mom, (93 years) the booking was expertly managed through Rosedale working with AHS. When my husband’s and my

birth years came up, the online process, was seamless. Mom’s two shots and now my first were organized, safe, fast and provided by caring nurses who are a credit to the profession. Bravo Alberta Health Services! We are so grateful.

Colleen Norris, Edmonton

Letters welcome

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First Person: Prepare for the next pandemic, says WHO scientist

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First Person: Prepare for the next pandemic, says WHO scientist

During the early ‘90s, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan successfully raised funds to get antiretroviral drugs to those affected by the HIV epidemic. Many of the children of those patients are still alive today thanks to her work. As part of the podcast series, Awake At Night, she shares her insights with the UN’s head of communications, Melissa Fleming.

Getting vaccines to those who need them

“We’ve seen time and time again that products developed in high income countries take decades to find their way to low income countries. This has happened with influenza pandemics, with HIV, and with hepatitis B vaccines.

It took 30 years for hepatitis B vaccines to get to developing countries and that’s exactly the reason why COVAX [the UN-led scheme to distribute two billion COVID-19 vaccines to mostly poorer countries] was set up, to make sure that as vaccines get developed, that there’s also equity in access.

I think that it was a good move and that it’s going to be successful. I’m very hopeful that, for the first time ever, COVAX is going to bring vaccines to people in every country in the world, having taken lessons from HIV and all of the other diseases for which the richer world found treatments and vaccines. The funding was slow but finally, there is rollout and there is hope.

The promise of science

To me, what has happened with science and the scientific collaboration that happened during the past year is very positive, the fact that people have been so willing and open to share knowledge. It’s helped us in the WHO, to be ahead of the curve, and I think it’s the reason that we’ve had so many dozens of vaccine candidates being developed.

Of course, there’s still a technology gap between the high, middle and lower income countries, and we want to focus on bridging that gap by enabling a technology transfer, particularly for some of these new technology platforms like the mRNA vaccines, which offer the possibility of being able to very quickly adapt to COVID-19 variations, as well as to create vaccines against new pathogens.

So, it’s a perfect platform for pandemic response. This is the time that the world needs to think about getting to the end of this pandemic but also, at the same time, preparing for the next one by making sure that this technology is not limited to a few sites in the world, but is more broadly available, and could be used to control some of our other big public health problems, like TB.

© UNICEF/Vinay Panjwani

MO Dilip Gosai checking chest X- Ray of for TB and other lung infection at the Antela Primary Health Center in Baria, Gujarat, India..

The deadly toll of tuberculosis

Most of my career has essentially involved research on tuberculosis (TB), on HIV, and on other infectious diseases. TB patients usually come from the poorest sections of society, so I’ve been to all the slums in Chennai, and I know the conditions in which those patients live.

It gave me a better appreciation for why a purely biomedical approach is unlikely to work in a disease like tuberculosis, where there are so many social, economic and environmental risk factors driving that disease.

One and a half million people die of tuberculosis every year. It’s takes such a huge toll on people and yet we get used to deadly diseases that are often invisible because they hit the poor.

So, in a country like India, a person who dies of dengue fever in a city would make headlines, whereas you’d have had 1000 deaths due to TB on the same day and they would not feature in any news story at all.

Perhaps, the lesson that we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that, because we live in a globalized world, it doesn’t take much for a disease that starts in one part of the world to travel and infect people in other countries.

I hope that there’ll be a new public health paradigm now, not focusing only on your own country, but really thinking about global health security. And it’s not only humans, but animals that we need to think about, and the environment, because we know that the pandemics arise from interactions between animals, humans and the environment”.

Europe must share the burden of migrant flow, say EU border nations

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Europe must share the burden of migrant flow, say EU border nations

The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe want their EU partners to share the burden more equitably.

“We can no longer be punished for our geographical position,” Malta’s Byron Camilleri said Saturday, summing up his position and that of his colleagues from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain after they met in Athens.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas joined part of the meeting, Schinas is coordinating the commission’s work to revise the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.

Table of Contents

MED 5

Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain created a “MED 5” group last year in an effort to present a united front and influence the new EU pact.

Their demands are threefold: better cooperation with the countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia where most Europe-bound migrants and asylum-seekers come from; greater willingness by other EU member nations to accept newly arrived migrants; and a centralised European repatriation mechanism overseen by the EU’s executive commission.

Southern European countries with extensive coastlines have borne the brunt of arriving asylum-seekers hoping to enter the EU. Most Europe-bound migrants travel by boat on dangerous maritime smuggling routes, either from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands or across the Mediterranean from north Africa.

The ministers discussed whether Turkey played an active role in pushing migrants toward Europe in contravention of a 2016 migration-control between the EU and Turkey.

Frontex

Cyprus’ interior minister, Nikos Nouris, said most of the migrants arriving in his country enter from the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern part of the island nation. He called for Turkey to accept inspections on its southern shoreline by Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency.

At one point last year, Turkey’s president said his government would no longer discourage migrants from trying to cross the border into Greece.

5 nations demand better European Union sharing of migration load

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5 nations demand better European Union sharing of migration load

  • ASSOCIATED PRESS
    From left, Greece’s Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi, Interior Minister of Spain Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Italy’s Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, Cyprus’ Interior Minister Nicos Nouris and Byron Camilleri, Malta’s Interior Minister make statements following their meeting in Athens. The ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, which are on the front line of migration flows into Europe have met in Athens to discuss the European Union’s migration policy as the bloc works toward a new migration pact.

ATHENS, Greece >> The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe want their EU partners to share the burden more equitably.

“We can no longer be punished for our geographical position,” Malta’s Byron Camilleri said Saturday, summing up his position and that of his colleagues from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain after they met in Athens.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas joined part of the meeting, Schinas is coordinating the commission’s work to revise the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.

Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain created a “MED 5” group last year in an effort to present united front and influence the new EU pact.

Their demands are threefold: better cooperation with the countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia where most Europe-bound migrants and asylum-seekers come from; greater willingness by other EU member nations to accept newly arrived migrants; and a centralized European repatriation mechanism overseen by the EU’s executive commission.

Southern European countries with extensive coastlines have borne the brunt of arriving asylum-seekers hoping to enter the EU. Most Europe-bound migrants travel by boat on dangerous maritime smuggling routes, either from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands or across the Mediterranean from north Africa.

The ministers discussed whether Turkey played an active role in pushing migrants toward Europe in contravention of a 2016 migration-control between the EU and Turkey.

Cyprus’ interior minister, Nikos Nouris, said most of the migrants arriving in his country enter from the the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern part of the island nation. He called for Turkey to accept inspections on its southern shoreline by Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency.

At one point last year, Turkey’s president said his government would no longer discourage migrants from trying to cross the border into Greece.

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Religion, belief important to peace promotion: Vietnamese Ambassador

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Religion, belief important to peace promotion: Vietnamese Ambassador

The Ambassador, who is the Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, voiced the view that efforts should be made to address the root of religious conflict and hatred, to further facilitate people’s participation in religious activities at the local, national and global levels, and to strengthen cooperation and dialogue among religious groups.

Stressing that Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups with different religions and beliefs, who are living peacefully and harmoniously together, the diplomat affirmed that Vietnam always spares no effort to promote solidarity and equality, and create favourable conditions for the operations of groups of different religions and beliefs.

The virtual Arria-formula meeting on “Religion, Belief and Conflict: the protection of members of religious and belief groups in conflict and religious actors in conflict resolution” was initiated by the UK and co-sponsored by Estonia, Norway and the US.

Chaired by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the event gathered representatives of all UNSC member states and invited speakers.

Guest speakers spoke highly of religious communities’ contribution to peace progress, humanitarian works, and development cause in many nations and territories worldwide. With some expressing concerns over increasing terrorism and violent extremism related to religion and belief in recent years, they emphasised the importance of ensuring freedom of religion and belief and called on the international community to strengthen the protection of religious groups and communities in conflict.

Participating member nations also backed the freedom of religion and belief, and underlined the need to promote efforts to fight violent extremism. They said they opposed all forms of attacks and oppression against religious groups and communities in conflict.

Arria-formula meetings are informal meetings of the UN Security Council with the attendance of the council’s members, other UN member states, and international organisations to look into important and emerging issues.

EU chief threatens to ban AstraZeneca exports

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said drugmaker AstraZeneca could face a ban on exports of coronavirus vaccine doses it produces in the EU if it did not meet its delivery obligations.

She told Germany’s Funke Media Group in an interview published Saturday that the EU had the “possibility” to ban exports. “This is a message to AstraZeneca: You fulfill your part of the deal toward Europe before you start to deliver to other countries,” she said.

On Wednesday, von der Leyen had already said that the EU was prepared to use the mechanisms it had in place to stop exports of vaccines from the bloc destined to countries that were producing their own doses and not exporting them in turn. She suggested that this was principally the U.K., as the U.S. was not importing doses, and was allowing for a free flow of vaccine ingredients.

A new book, Ghost of the Niger Delta, set for release

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A new book, Ghost of the Niger Delta, set for release

Ghosts of the Niger Delta, a new novel on the Niger Delta crisis that crippled Nigeria’s oil industry from 2005, will be released on March 22.
The author, Bisi Daniels, disclosed that the novel would be partly serialised in the online paper, The QuickRead, at: quickread.ng, before its formal publication.

The author of over 12 books, who is also journalist with decades of experience, chronicles the Niger Delta crisis in revealing details and insider information about Nigeria’s oil and gas industry’s politics through the eyes of an investigative reporter, James Hunter.

For example, it reveals: “In 2005, the United States conducted a war game exercise, predicting the outbreak of violence in the oil-producing area of Nigeria that would lead to expatriates’ evacuation, including US citizens, and a hike in oil prices.

“Six months after the exercise, massive bomb explosions at major oil facilities announce the commencement of violence in Nigeria and resonate worldwide.”

Told as a faction, it begins when John Hunter, The NewsHub newspaper’s award-winning investigative reporter, reluctantly undertakes an assignment to investigate pollution in the Niger Delta.

He is held captive in a death camp with an American environmentalist, Jones Coleman, the son of a fictional US Senator.

After being made to bury some of the inmates tortured to death, the duo are worried about their fate when armed youths attack the camp at night.

Jones dashes back to the US.

As Hunter recovers in Lagos from the torture, the Niger Delta makes headlines with several armed attacks target oil facilities and many expatriates taken hostage by militants.

This inhibits oil production and immediately impacts the global oil marketplace.

Crude oil prices soar, and oil companies and consumers panic.

Hunter rushes back to the region, which is now under the siege of angry militants.

He eventually tracks the militant commanders down at one of their camps after encounters with oil companies, security agencies, and angry residents.

Staring death in the face, he is detained for days.

The cold hands of death draw closer when he is later embedded with the militants during an attack on a major oil facility.

Hunter is shocked by their efficiency and their large cache of sophisticated weapons.

With the government’s inability to halt the violence, oil companies withdraw more of their staff members from the fields and further reduce crude oil production.

Hunter’s mission to expose the corruption and exploitation that led to, and resulted from the Niger Delta crisis, makes him a target of many powerful people, including oil thieves, arms dealers, corrupt government officials and politicians.

He is followed and attacked at every turn, kidnapped five times, but he remains resolute and lives to tell his story.

The author says the novel provides understanding of some of the changes, like the establishment of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, that have happened in the oil and gas industry over the years.

—

Analysis- Twenty years on, EU turns cold on Mercosur trade deal

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Analysis- Twenty years on, EU turns cold on Mercosur trade deal

BRUSSELS: As the European Union looks forward to a fresh start with the United States under a new president, it is riddled with doubts over another transatlantic relationship.

A trade pact struck in 2019 with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay after two decades of talks promised to be the EU’s largest deal, with the removal of 4 billion euros (US$4.8 billion) of import tariffs on its products.

But two years later, it is unclear when – or whether – it will enter force due to Europe‘s concerns over Amazon deforestation and scepticism about Brazil’s commitment to tackling climate change under President Jair Bolsonaro.

The doubts are amplified by a new EU trade strategy unveiled in February that says would-be partners of the world’s richest trade bloc should uphold standards on the environment and labour rights.

While few noticed when the EU began talks with Mercosur in 1999, scrutiny of trade deals has since intensified, particularly after the bloc launched Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the United States in 2013, drawing mass protests.

The EU seeks greater cooperation with the United States on trade now U.S. President Joe Biden has replaced Donald Trump, but TTIP talks, suspended in 2016, will not be revived.

The Mercosur saga is being closely watched by other potential partners, aware that an investment accord agreed with China in December also faces close inspection.

“Trade is hard enough as it is. These extra issues just make it more difficult for the EU to do deals with anyone else,” said David Henig, a director at pro-free trade think tank ECIPE.

Apart from Australia and New Zealand, there were no “easy deals” left on the horizon for the EU, Henig said, noting potentially tough negotiations to come with ASEAN countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines.

AUSTRIA’S “NO TO MERCOSUR”

Portugal, with close ties to South America, made concluding the deal a priority of its presidency of EU affairs in the first half of 2021, saying Europe’s credibility was at stake.

A trade accord needs backing from the European Parliament and EU members to enter force and far from all are convinced.

France and Ireland, both beef producers wary of meat imports, threatened to block the deal months after it was agreed, as fires ripped through Brazil’s rainforest.

Austria has since taken the lead. “No to Mercosur” is written into its new government accord and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, a Green, wrote to Portugal’s prime minister this month, saying Austria would “do its utmost” to oppose the deal.

Brazil’s agriculture minister Tereza Cristina Dias and the vice president Hamilton Mourao say environmental concerns are a mask for European protectionism. But both sides recognise the agreement will not pass in its current form.

Brazil, the fifth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has aggressive long-term plans to cut emissions and curb deforestation, but Bolsonaro’s weakening of environmental enforcement has shaken confidence they can be reached.

Critics say 15 pages in the existing Mercosur text on labour and the environment lack teeth. The European Commission now proposes securing clearer commitments.

It won broad support from EU countries for the idea this month. Mercosur countries say they are awaiting a text on climate change and deforestation.

One Mercosur diplomat, asking not to be named, cautioned it should be balanced, not just list EU demands.

FRANCE, BRAZIL ELECTIONS IN 2022

The European Parliament wants a commitment to monitoring and enforcement of universal standards and clear consequences for violations.

“Without this, then it would be problematic. There are some critical voices in more or less every political group,” Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament’s trade committee, said.

The parliament rejected a multi-country anti-counterfeiting trade agreement on counterfeiting in 2012, but Lange said the parliament preferred to improve than to reject deals.

“It’s now up to the negotiation process to find a solution.”

What awaits are renewed talks with an unclear end date.

French Trade Minister Frank Riester has said France wants, for example, to see what Brazil will do at the United Nations climate change conference in November, giving France the chance to push the deal in early 2022 when it has the EU presidency.

However, that would coincide with French President Emmanuel Macron‘s campaign for re-election in a potentially tight race, in which a Mercosur deal could cost him support.

Some advise waiting even further into next year, with Brazil’s presidential election due in October.

A diplomat of one would-be partner said the Mercosur experience had shown the European Union had become a challenging partner with which to do a trade deal. The lesson drawn was to try to resolve all issues up front to avoid being dragged into a second round of “quasi-negotiations”.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Jake Spring and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Francois Murphy in Vienna; Editing by Mark John and Barbara Lewis)

St. Bernard’s School of Religion Keeps Students Connected, Involved

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Erin DeGregorio
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St. Bernard’s School of Religion Keeps Students Connected, Involved
St. Bernard School of Religion students created custom, paper shoe designs to be included in the school’s annual “Works of Mercy” project, which raised over $3,900 this year. (Photo: Erin DeGregorio)

BERGEN BEACH — When schools went remote last spring, religious education programs also pivoted to continue teaching children about the Catholic faith and sacraments.

“The really important thing is that, in all of the pandemic, we’ve learned that we cannot just keep doing things the way we’ve always done them,” said Father Joseph Gibino, vicar for Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Brooklyn. “We’ve got to be really new and creative in our thinking.”

Melissa Wagner, director of Faith Formation and the School of Religion at St. Bernard Parish, for example, reworked the School of Religion’s programming and communications to include technology components. By utilizing Option C — a program used by schools in the diocese similar to an online homeroom for students and parents — Wagner and her 30 catechists sent out more messages, Sunday Mass-related lessons and resources, and reminders to attend live-streamed Masses. They also implemented Sadlier’s blended learning “Christ in Us” catechetical program, which has transformed religious education experience in parishes.

“I was a child of a religious education program, and I always felt the disconnect from the parish. For me, it was always, ‘I go to religion on Wednesdays, and that’s it,’ ” Wagner explained. “Now, I think it’s been about the personal relationships I’ve tried to create with the families that have given them the confidence in knowing this is not about a one-day program.”

Wagner and her staff also continue to communicate with families through old-fashioned methods — making phone calls and sending customized postcards via snail mail. This, according to Wagner, allows her team to check in on the families in more personalized ways.

“When the pandemic started, people felt a little detached, and some even said, ‘I can’t even think about the religious aspect of schooling right now.’ We weren’t here to say, ‘Your child didn’t do the lesson’ — it became ‘We’re calling to see how you’re doing and if you need anything,’ ” Wagner said.

“This year, our motto became ‘The distance is temporary, but God’s love is forever,’ ” she added.

Though Wagner hoped 100% in-person sessions would begin this January again, students continue to meet with their teachers and St. Bernard’s clergy (made up of Msgr. Joseph R. Grimaldi, Father Michael G. Tedone, and Deacon Christopher A. Wagner) over Zoom. The program’s 260 students also meet in person — by grade in small groups on a rotating basis — once a month while adhering to health and safety guidelines.

“Even though our normal teaching practices have been suspended for the school year, it is through love — love of one’s parish, love of one’s students, love of one’s teacher — that St. Bernard’s School of Religion is able to have such a successful year,” Wagner said, noting that 90 percent of students returned for the 2020-2021 school year. “So many volunteers, staff, and families have dedicated their time and effort to this program, and it was all done in love.”

Similar to what was held during Advent, Wagner has organized four Holy Hours that revolve around St. Joseph for confirmation candidates to participate in this Lenten season.

She is also encouraging the 66 current confirmation candidates to help out with preparations for the First Holy Communion candidates. They are organizing reading materials and gift bags for the second-graders upcoming retreat.

“I’ve always told the confirmation candidates that they need to be the stewards and witnesses for the rest of the kids in the program,” Wagner added. “That way, when those children get older, they’ll say they want to do those kinds of activities, too.”

Wagner also modified the confirmation candidates’ annual “Works of Mercy” project, in which the candidates drew sneaker designs and raised monetary donations for Sole Purpose, a non-profit organization started by two high school students to help supply refurbished sneakers to the homeless in New York City.

The paper sneakers were put on display in front of the church during the month of March. Wagner said over $3,900 was collected during the first two weekends in March when the fundraiser took place.

Towards the end of Lent, St. Bernard’s School of Religion will be partnering up with St. Edmund Prep by making Easter cards for those living in nursing home facilities.

Lured into street prostitution: 19 arrests in latest hit against human traffickers

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Lured into street prostitution: 19 arrests in latest hit against human traffickers

The family-based criminal group was forcing its victims to prostitute themselves on the streets of Girona in Spain

On 9 March, Europol supported the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional) and the Service of Countering Organised Criminality Giurgiu within the Romanian Police (Poliția Română) in a hit against an organised crime group involved in sexual exploitation. 

The suspects belonged to a family-based criminal group composed of Romanian nationals. They recruited the victims from Romania, luring them to Spain with the so-called ‘loverboy method’. Once the victims reached Girona, the members of the criminal gang forced them into prostitution on the streets of the Spanish city. The victims endured harsh living conditions, cold and hunger. Some of them were forced to prostitute themselves while pregnant and at high risk of being infected by COVID in the current pandemic. To prove their ‘ownership’ over the victims, the criminal gang tattooed them. The suspects collected the money from the sexual exploitation and invested it in high-end vehicles, real estate, luxury goods and drugs. During the action day, officers in Romania discovered pornographic material including content depicting the sexual abuse of a minor. 

The action day on 9 March 2021 led also to:

  • 16 house searches (2 in Spain and 14 in Romania)
  • 19 arrests (8 in Spain and 11 in Romania)
  • 18 victims safeguarded (7 in Spain and 11 in Romania)
  • Seizures include phones and stolen goods, including jewellery worth some €35 000.                             

Europol facilitated the information exchange and provided analytical support. During the action day, Europol hosted a virtual command post to coordinate the activities. Europol also deployed an expert to Spain to cross-check operational information in real-time against Europol’s databases and to provide technical support with phone extraction capabilities. 
 

EMPACT
In 2010 the European Union set up a four-year Policy Cycle to ensure greater continuity in the fight against serious international and organised crime. In 2017 the Council of the EU decided to continue the EU Policy Cycle for the 2018 – 2021 period. It aims to tackle the most significant threats posed by organised and serious international crime to the EU. This is achieved by improving and strengthening cooperation between the relevant services of EU Member States, institutions and agencies, as well as non-EU countries and organisations, including the private sector where relevant. Human trafficking is one of the priorities for the Policy Cycle.

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