BARO, Chad — In the Guéra region of Chad, some 30 traditional chiefs from the area gathered in the village of Baro to discuss the future of their people. This was one of a dozen such conferences that have been held over the past two years throughout the country by the Bahá’í community in collaboration with traditional leaders.
“Many chiefs have expressed a desire to learn more about the Bahá’í community-building activities that are bringing people in their villages together to address different social issues,” explains Prime Tchompaare, a member of the Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of Chad.
Slideshow 6 imagesThe head chief of the Baro area (left) and other dignitaries address the gathering of traditional chiefs.
The conference itself provided an example of how spiritual principles are essential to discussions on progress. One of the participating chiefs stated: “Unity, religious harmony, love, service to society—the idea of looking at these themes as the starting point for finding solutions to our challenges really allows us to see things we could not see before.”
Another participant described the significance of the conference, stating: “Although we have always led our communities based on our cultural heritage, this unique gathering is allowing us to reflect very deeply on our role in advocating unity and peace and to reflect on the education of our children. These kinds of spaces can help us to be at the vanguard of addressing the aspirations of our community.”
Slideshow 6 imagesPhotograph taken before the current health crisis. Bahá’í educational programs in Chad build bonds of friendship and capacity for service to society.
The consultations at the conference allowed the chiefs to examine many different societal issues, while drawing in part from the experience of the Bahá’ís of Chad in their community-building efforts.
The moral education of children and youth was one of the themes they explored. At the gathering, Mr. Tchompaare highlighted aspects of the Bahá’í educational programs that develop capacities for service, stating: “Through this process, youth develop the ability to reflect together on the needs of their communities, they join others in serving their locality, and they see new possibilities. They want to stay longer in their communities in order to contribute to long-term prosperity.”
One of the chiefs at the conference observed that this educational process holds great potential, especially for young people, stating: “It can assist in addressing many of the ills we suffer, such as tensions between generations as well as rural exodus. As chiefs, we have long had the custom of gathering young people to teach them our traditions and religious teachings. Now we are thinking about how this custom can be adapted to further help children develop what they need for current times and embrace the world with greater openness, while remaining connected to their heritage.”
Slideshow 6 imagesPhotographs taken before the current health crisis. Pictured here are participants in community-building initiatives of the Bahá’ís of Chad.
The evolution of culture was another theme the chiefs discussed at the gathering. Discussions highlighted the need for a deeper examination of some customary practices that may act as barriers to greater participation of women in community affairs.
Another area of great interest to the chiefs was approaches conducive to solving disagreements among people. “In our villages, there is frequent tension between crop farmers and livestock breeders over land,” said one of the chiefs.
“I believe this can only be resolved,” he continued, “through the kind of consultation, tolerance, and prayerful atmosphere that we see in this gathering. The idea of fostering the devotional life of a community, involving all inhabitants, is very inspiring. It attracts the hearts and can provide a path toward greater harmony.”
At the conclusion of the gathering, the chiefs made plans to hold similar meetings of their own in their respective localities, exploring the same themes with community members.
It’s an institution that was born under the watchful eye of Adolph S. Ochs, who established the standalone supplement shortly after he became publisher of the paper in 1896. It has been known variously as “the Saturday Review of Books and Art,” “the Sunday Book Review,” “the NYTBR” or, mostly internally, simply “TBR” (not to be confused with “to be read,” though you can understand the confusion).
Over this anniversary year, we will bring you pieces from our archives to enjoy again or, more often than not, for the first time. The ethos of our pages has remained the same. We couldn’t put it better than the Book Review’s editors in 1913 who extolled “an open forum for the discussion of books from all sane and honest points of view.”
We begin here at the beginning with the inaugural eight-page issue that appeared on Oct. 10, 1896, including cover stories on Oscar Wilde’s suffering in jail and a (strangely familiar) report on how department stores were threatening independent bookstores. Among the 10 book reviews on the inside was a critique of Robert Barr’s newest one: “Mr. Robert Barr is a reasonably ingenious, versatile, fairly well informed writer, and to a sensitive person frequently an irritating one.” Sane and honest indeed.
“An extended discussion was then entered upon as to the best means to adopt to do away with the competition dealers are meeting with from department stores. It was decided to appeal to the dealers throughout the country and organize for the purpose of endeavoring to secure legislation which will exact a tax from department stores for every department which they conduct business outside of the principal line of business in which the proprietors are engaged.”
“The gentleman who made these statements is persuaded that Wilde will lose either his life or his reason as the result of his imprisonment: but he probably underestimates the extent of human endurance.”
“If Victor Hugo had not been a great writer he would have been a notable artist, but who ever knew that Robert Louis Stevenson was a draughtsman? And yet he was.”
Tina Jordan is the deputy editor of the Book Review and author of a book celebrating its 125th anniversary, to be published next fall.
(Photo: Joe Biden official campaign website)Joe Biden
There are those who support the separation of Church and State, and while there is the beginning of the presidency of Joseph Biden, a committed Catholic, the recent role of Christianity in U.S. politics has triggered a torrent of debate in the nation’s mass media.
About one-in-five U.S. adults are Catholic, and Catholicism has long been one of the nation’s largest religious groups, Pew Research reports.
Yet, John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic president until Joseph Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20.
Much has been written about President Joe Biden’s Catholic faith.
He often speaks of his religious convictions and quotes the Bible, and he attends Mass regularly, Aleksandra Sandstrom wrote for Pew.
There was only one other Catholic, aside from Biden, John Kerry, who was a presidential nominee on a major party ticket since the assassination of Kennedy in 1963.
Hours before Biden took his oath of office, he entered the front pew of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the seat of Catholic Washington, and beheld the mosaics behind the altar, The New York Times wrote.
While President Biden is only the second observant Catholic president in U.S. history, he also supports the right to an abortion. That has set him off on a rocky start with some U.S. bishops, the NPR program All Things Considered heard on Jan. 29.
BIDEN ATTENDS MASS
The Washington Post wrote on Jan. 27, just hours after Biden had attended Mass at St. Matthew’s, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president, issued a statement.
It began by praising Biden’s “piety” and “his moving witness to how his faith has brought him solace in times of darkness and tragedy,” but then moved to an unprecedented first-day rebuke.
“I must point out,” Gomez wrote, “that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”
That set off a fierce debate among U.S. Catholics, some with those who see Biden’s support for the downtrodden as supportive of his faith, but others who see his acceptance of the “pro-choice” views of his party that accepts abortion as being at odds with Catholic teaching.
The U.S. Constitution prohibits any religious test or requirement for public office.
Almost all U.S. presidents have been Christians, and many have been Episcopalians or Presbyterians, with most of the rest belonging to other prominent Protestant denominations.
One-in-five U.S. adults say it is “very important” to have a president with strong religious beliefs.
And 14 percent say the same applies to having a president who shares their own religious beliefs, according to a February 2020 Pew Research Center survey.
A far higher share (63 percent) note the importance of having a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life.
When he began as president, Trump was included as a Presbyterian in a previous Pew analysis version.
But he said in an Oct. 2020 interview with Religion News Service that he no longer identifies as a Presbyterian: “I now consider myself to be a nondenominational Christian.”
Trump had delivered an address on June 4, last year, in which he threatened military action on the nation. Then he walked to the nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church to pose with a Bible, Clint Witchalls had written in The Conversation on a publicity student that stirred global debate.
TRUMP WITH A BIBLE
“Yes, Trump held the Bible like a baby holding a spoon for the first time – unsure which end is which – but the real problem was the complete disconnection between the text in his hand and the force, both verbally threatened and actually used, to clear the way for his stunt,” said Witchalls.
“Tear gas and militarized police cleared crowds, including some of the church’s own clergy from its grounds, in order for Trump to pose in front of the church.”
Witchalls wrote that while Christian outrage at Trump’s hypocrisy is genuine, for reasons that several Christian leaders had “elegantly articulated,” there is a need to ask: did Trump do anything new?
“Has he done anything that powerful “Christian” leaders haven’t done for centuries?
“The answer is no. Co-opting Christianity in the service of power is almost as old as Christianity itself.”
Historically, about a quarter of presidents – including some of the most famous leaders, such as George Washington, James Madison, and Franklin Roosevelt – were members of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. successor to the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Presbyterians are the next largest group, with eight presidents, including Andrew Jackson and Ronald Reagan.
Unitarians and Baptists, including Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Harry Truman, are the groups with the third-largest share of presidents, each with four.
There also have been four presidents who identify as Christian without a formal denomination, including Trump and his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Obama was raised in a non-religious household but converted to Christianity as an adult and worshipped at a United Church of Christ congregation – Trinity United Church of Christ – in Chicago.
However, Obama left Trinity during his first presidential campaign in 2008 after controversial statements by the church’s senior pastor, Jeremiah Wright, gained widespread attention.
Two of the most famous presidents in American history had no formal religious affiliation.
The first president Thomas Jefferson lost his faith in traditional Christianity at an early age, but Sandstrom said he continued to believe in an impersonal God as the creator of the universe.
“Jefferson famously edited the New Testament by removing references to the miracles and leaving in Jesus’ teachings,” she said.
The second president, Abraham Lincoln, was raised in a religious household and frequently spoke about God (particularly as president), but he never joined a church.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Scholars have long debated Lincoln’s beliefs, including whether he was a Christian, and some aspects of his faith remain a mystery.
Lincoln is not the only president for whom there is some uncertainty surrounding his affiliation and beliefs.
Some presidents were more private than others about their religious leanings, and some may have evolved in their beliefs during their life.
Sandstrom cites Lincoln’s second vice president and ultimately his successor, Andrew Johnson, who identified himself as a Christian but never was formally part of a denomination or congregation.
Another 19th-century president, Rutherford B. Hayes, sometimes attended Methodist churches but “moved among Protestant denominations during his life,” according to the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University.
Nearly all were Christians, but Biden only second Catholic 2
Speaking to an Italian family association in 2018, Pope Francis compared the abortion of children with genetic problems to “what the Nazis did to purify the race. Today, we do the same thing, but with white gloves.”
A year later, Francis bluntly asked a journalist from Mexico if it’s “fair to eliminate a human life in order to solve a problem? The answer to which is, ‘No.’ Second question: Is it fair to pay a sniper to solve a problem? No. Abortion is not a religious problem. … It is a problem of eliminating a human life. Period.”
But the pope was careful in his Inauguration Day message to America’s second Catholic president, assuring Joe Biden that he would “pray that your decisions will be guided by a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom, together with unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice.”
The pope’s text was examined closely after reports that the Vatican – on behalf of progressive American bishops – tried to stop the circulation of a sobering statement from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The letter from Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles addressed the challenge, and blessing, of working with “our first president in 60 years to profess the Catholic faith.”
Clearly, Biden’s piety had offered “solace in times of darkness and tragedy,” said Gomez, leader of America’s largest diocese and a crucial voice among Hispanic Catholics. He also praised Biden’s “longstanding commitment to the Gospel’s priority for the poor.”
Nevertheless, Gomez noted, “our new president has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage and gender. Of deep concern is the … freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago fired back on Twitter, attacking this “ill-considered statement on the day of President Biden’s inauguration” while claiming “there is seemingly no precedent” for this action by Gomez.
The Pillar, a Catholic news website, reported that the Vatican Secretariat of State intervened to “spike” the statement from the U.S. bishops after objections from Cupich, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and some other bishops.
This clash was a rare example – in public – of ongoing tensions among American bishops about how to handle Catholic politicians who dissent, in word and deed, from centuries of church doctrines on life-and-death issues such as abortion and euthanasia, as well as hot-button topics such as sex, gender and marriage.
These tensions intensified in 2004, when a committee of American bishops sought Vatican advice on how to relate to Sen. John Kerry, a liberal Catholic who was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. The question was whether his strong support for abortion rights should affect his ability to receive Holy Communion.
In a private reply, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now the retired Pope Benedict XVI – said that if prominent supporters of abortion continue to present themselves for Holy Communion, against the advice of their local bishops, priests “must refuse to distribute it.”
The committee’s leader – the now-disgraced Theodore McCarrick – claimed that Ratzinger’s letter endorsed compromise. American bishops have been arguing ever since about what some call the “McCarrick doctrine.” Meanwhile, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., has promised that he will not prevent Biden from receiving Holy Communion.
“Cardinal Cupich’s tweets certainly intensified matters,” said J.D. Flynn, editor of The Pillar, reached by telephone. “Bishops, ordinarily, just don’t do things like that.”
In his letter, Gomez stressed that Catholic leaders face the challenge of defending doctrines that do not “align neatly with the political categories of left or right or the platforms of our two major political parties.” This affects issues ranging from race to economic justice, from health care to immigration.
Nevertheless, for America’s Catholic bishops, the “continued injustice of abortion remains the ‘preeminent priority,’” argued Gomez. That said, the word “preeminent does not mean ‘only.’ We have deep concerns about many threats to human life and dignity in our society. But as Pope Francis teaches, we cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year through abortion.”
Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Mar Fayos, a jazz vocalist from Barcelona, Spain, presents her debut album “Mi Propia Religión ” (My Own Religion), a jazz-pop fusion with Mediterranean, Latin and soul influences, honoring each genre with great respect and attracting the most demanding listeners. With this album, the elegance and sensitiveness of traditional jazz are intertwined with powerful and personal messages of introspection and self-discovery.Composed entirely by the vocalist, “Mi Propia Religión” is an intimate album that aims to put music to the soundtrack of some moments in the lives of those who listen to it. The album is available in all digital platforms, but also is out in physical format accompanied with a creative Merchandising available through Mar’s website.
Mar Fayos graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music in 2018, with a Bachelor of Music Degree in vocal performance, arranging and a minor in contemporary conducting. As a Berklee student, Mar received a full scholarship to complete a Master Program in Contemporary Performance (Jazz) at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
The vocalist has performed with accomplished artists such as Brazilian composer Toninho Horta, four-time Grammy winner bassist Oscar Stagnaro, the late legendary Mexican bolero singer and composer Armando Manzanero, and the outstanding jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Mar was also selected to be part of 5-times Grammy winner and Golden Globe Nominee Antonio Sanchez’s Residency in México City. In addition, she is one of the semifinalists of this years’ Bucharest International Jazz, and the Juventudes Musicales de España 2020 competitions in the jazz category and was nominated to receive an Artist Award at Rootstock 2020 Music Festival.
Her debut album, focused on her personal approach to Jazz fusion is released while she continues her work in music higher education at the Bunker Hill Community College, at the Berklee College of Music and at Escola Taller de Músics in Barcelona.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced on Wednesday that it had authorised the return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX commercial aeroplane. This authorisation applied to a modified version of the single-aisle airliner. The EASA-required improvements and modifications comprised reworked electrical wiring, upgraded software, updated operations manuals and updated crew training and maintenance checks. Commercial aviation regulators in the US, Brazil and Canada had already cleared the 737 MAX to return to service, also with provisos that certain modifications and upgrades were made to the aircraft and its associated procedures. The EASA determination is not applicable to the UK, which is no longer a member of the agency, following the country’s departure from the European Union (EU).
“We have reached a significant milestone on a long road,” observed EASA executive director Patrick Ky. “Following extensive analysis by EASA, we have determined that the 737 MAX can safely return to service. This assessment was carried out in full independence of Boeing or the [US] Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] and without any economic or political pressure – we asked difficult questions until we got answers and pushed for solutions which satisfied our exacting safety requirements. We carried out our own flight tests and simulator sessions and did not rely on others to do this for us.”
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The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019, as a result of two accidents within six months, which killed 346 passengers and crew. The fundamental cause of these disasters was ascertained to be the aircraft’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Ironically, this was meant to make the aeroplane easier to handle. But it received its data from just one angle of attack sensor and if that malfunctioned, the MCAS would repeatedly activate itself and push the nose of the airliner down. That was what had happened in both accidents, with the pilots ultimately losing control of their aircraft.
“We have every confidence that the aircraft is [now] safe, which is the precondition for giving our approval,” he stated. “But we will continue to monitor 737 MAX operations closely as the aircraft resumes service. In parallel, and at our insistence, Boeing has also committed to work to enhance the aircraft still further in the medium term, in order to reach an even higher level of safety.”
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The physical changes to the 737 MAX required by EASA were the same as those required by the FAA, so that there will be no technical or software differences between those aircraft operated by EU and North American operators. However, EASA’s requirements did have two main differences to those of the FAA. EASA explicitly permitted pilots to stop a ‘stick shaker’ (a type of warning system) from vibrating if it was activated in error by the MCAS (to ensure that it did not distract the crew). And EASA banned certain high-precision landings by the 737 MAX (this is expected to be a temporary restriction).
“The mandated actions need to be seen as a complete package which together ensure the aircraft’s safety,” pointed out Ky. “This is not just about changes to the design of the aircraft: every individual 737 MAX pilot needs to undergo a once-off special training, including simulator training, to ensure that they are fully familiar with the redesigned 737 MAX and trained to handle specific scenarios which may arise in flight. This will be reinforced by recurrent training to ensure the knowledge is kept fresh.”
Before his appointment as Special Envoy, on 30 December 2020, Mr. Mizuno, of Japan, served as Chief Investment Officer of the Japan Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). He serves on the board of the Principles for Responsible Investment Association (PRI, an UN-backed body that aims to create sustainable markets that contribute to a more prosperous world for all), and has taken part in UN discussions on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.
UN NEWS: How did you come to be involved with the UN and sustainable investment?
Hiro Mizuno: My journey started with a charity dinner around seven years ago, when I found myself sat next to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. I was a partner at a private equity firm at the time, and Mr. Annan asked me why Japanese investors were not interested in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance investing, otherwise known as sustainable investing). I couldn’t answer, because this was the first time that I’d heard of ESG! When he explained, my first reaction was that, in fact, this sounded very much like a natural fit with Japanese corporate philosophy.
I’ve been working in the financial sector throughout my professional life. However, up until I became the Chief Investment Officer of the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), I had always struggled with the concept at the heart of the investment industry; that, to win, you have to beat the market by outsmarting everyone else. I questioned whether the industry was adding any added value to society.
Then, when I joined the GPIF, which holds more than $100 trillion in assets, I realised that we effectively were the market. This is when I came up with the idea of universal ownership: as universal owners, it made more sense for us to contribute, by making the system better for everyone.
We soon started to get questions from the big portfolio managers, asking us what we were trying to achieve, and how they should respond. We started to use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a convenient way to explain our strategy to corporate executives.
CIFOR/Tri Saputro
A farmer harvests rice in Bantaeng, Indonesia.
UN News: How can the financial sector address the growing gap between rich and poor?
Hiro Mizuno: The famous French economist Thomas Piketty, writes that the returns on investment outperform the economic growth rate. This means that those who hold financial assets become wealthier than the general workforce, who earn money from a salary. His conclusion was that, as a result, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen.
When I was at the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund, my aim was to reduce that gap. We handled huge financial assets and, by growing the fund, we could use pensions to allow ordinary people to benefit from the returns.
As CIO, inequality was always on my mind, all kinds of inequality, including between men and women, and between the Global North and Global South. If you look at the 17 SDGs, you can classify them as being about either sustainability, or inclusiveness.
Achieving inclusiveness is, of course, a way of reducing inequality, but so is sustainability: if we fail to deal with the climate crisis, we will be creating a sustainability gap between past and future generations, one that is unfair on those who will be left to deal with a world that is in a worse state than at present.
UN News: Should the financial system be completely overhauled?
Hiro Mizuno: One of the problems with the financial system is that it’s largely based on an investment theory that is at least thirty years old. Redesigning a system takes a long time. It may, eventually, work much better, but expending the effort may mean doing nothing else for too long.
We only have 10 years to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and that is not enough time to change the whole system. What we can do is try to address technical hurdles. If we do that, we’ll get less pushback from investment professionals.
It’s true that many of those who work in finance feel constrained by the system, but things are changing: 10 years ago, investment professionals felt awkward about putting the word “sustainable” in their portfolio, but now that is seen as being acceptable.
What we need, I think, is much more innovation. There are so many technically smart people in this industry and, if we can address technical issues, there will be a domino effect that will lead to real, systemic change.
UN News: What can you achieve as Special Envoy?
Hiro Mizuno: I’ve only been in this role for a short time, and I’m still trying to figure out what leverage I will have, but what the UN certainly has, is the power to bring decision-makers together to solve some of the world’s greatest problems. I’m very excited to work with the different parts of the UN System, as well as with the Secretary-General, to see how we can achieve change.
My goal is to use the financial sector to speed up the transition to a more equitable world. At a more practical level, I want to make investments more compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals.
As we head towards to UN climate conference in November (COP26, due to be held in Glasgow in November), I want to see us create momentum, and get businesses aligned between themselves, as well as with our social and environmental goals. One thing I’ve learned throughout my career is that, when everyone is aligned, everything accelerates.
The launch will be presided by Cyril Ramaphosa Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Republic of South Africa
Today, African media stakeholders, will launch the first digital online platform aimed at improving the protection of journalists, address threats and violence against them, foster early warning mechanisms and enhance response capacity within the continent.
The launch will be presided by Cyril Ramaphosa Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Republic of South Africa. Notable speakers expected to take part are Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Jamesina King, Commissioner of the AU’s African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (AU-ACHPR) and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. A number of African heads of State are scheduled to take part, as are representatives of the media and civil society.
The journalists’ safety platform will facilitate real time response across Africa with a view to ending impunity for attacks against African journalists including harassment, arbitrary arrests, assault and killing. It will constitute a cooperative mechanism to keep track of attacks against journalists in the continent, and support reporting on attacks as well as follow-up actions to combat impunity. It will also help create synergies among African media stakeholders in holding the perpetrators of violence against journalists and media outlets to account.
The digital platform will notably monitor:
Threats to the physical integrity and security of journalists and other media actors (including bloggers, writers, human right defenders and other persons communicating in the public interest);
Impunity in the abovementioned cases;
Threats to the confidentiality of journalists’ sources or threat to their physical integrity and security relating to their collaboration with journalists, media or human right defenders or organizations;
Threats to journalists’ privacy;
Restrictions on media freedom such as judicial and political intimidation of journalists (including hate speech and incitement to violence against journalists).
The platform was inspired by the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalists and Safety of Journalists and has been developed by African stakeholders, with support from UNESCO via its Multi-donor Programme for Freedom of Expression and the Safety of Journalists (MDP). It will be sustained through a joint mobilization of partnering organizations, namely four organs of the African Union (Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, of AU-ACHPR, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the African Governance Architecture (AGA), the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights), Civil Society Organizations, media networks and development partners.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Boris Johnson has expressed his “grave concerns” over the EU’s move to impose export controls on coronavirus vaccines and impinge on the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister held a call with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday evening as Downing Street warned the bloc not to disrupt the supply of jabs.
In an extraordinary move that blindsided both the UK and Ireland, the EU invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to stop the unimpeded flow of jabs from the bloc into the region.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster described Brussels’ move as an “incredible act of hostility” that places a “hard border” between the region and the Republic of Ireland.
Brussels took the surprise step that provoked condemnation from across the political spectrum while embroiled in a row with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over shortfalls in the delivery of jabs.
However, as EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier urged the bloc to step down from its deepening row over vaccine shortages, EU sources suggested the bloc may U-turn on the move.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen this evening.
“He expressed his grave concerns about the potential impact which the steps the EU has taken today on vaccine exports could have.”
Mr Johnson earlier urged the EU to “urgently clarify its intentions” and detail how it will honour its commitments to the peace process, during a “constructive discussion” with Irish Premier Micheal Martin.
The Prime Minister “set out his concerns” over Brussels’ move in a discussion with his Irish counterpart and raised “what these actions may mean for the two communities in Northern Ireland”, No 10 said.
A Downing Street statement added: “The UK has legally-binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and it would not expect the EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt the fulfilment of these contracts.”
Senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove spoke to his counterpart on the EU-UK Joint Committee, Maros Sefcovic, to “express the UK’s concern over a lack of notification from the EU about its actions in relation to the NI protocol” and warned Britain “would now be carefully considering next steps”.
European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic during a visit to London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
The Taoiseach held multiple calls with Ms von der Leyen, and the PA news agency understands that Mr Martin was not given advance notice of Brussels’ decision to invoke the protocol.
The protocol, which is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, is designed to allow the free movement of goods from the EU into Northern Ireland, and prevent the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland.
But triggering Article 16 temporarily places export controls on the movement of vaccines, a move taken by the EU to prevent the region being used as a back door to move coronavirus vaccines from the bloc into the UK.
The European Commission’s new regulation states: “This is justified as a safeguard measure pursuant to Article 16 of that protocol in order to avert serious societal difficulties due to a lack of supply threatening to disturb the orderly implementation of the vaccination campaigns in the member states.”
In an interview with The Times, Mr Barnier called for a “spirit of co-operation” during the “extraordinarily serious crisis”.
“And I believe that we must face this crisis with responsibility, certainly not with the spirit of oneupmanship or unhealthy competition,” he added.
It was not immediately clear what steps the Government was considering, but culture minister Caroline Dinenage did not rule out the UK invoking Article 16 in retaliation, as called for by the DUP.
“The stakes are really high and everybody needs to keep their heads about them,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions?, as she assured “we’re very confident in our supplies”.
The European Union was originally inspired by Christian social teaching – at the heart of which is solidarity.
Seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU’s basic ethics. They need to work together with others.
Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby urged the EU to rethink its actions.
“Seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU’s basic ethics. They need to work together with others,” he tweeted.
Mrs Foster said: “At the first opportunity, the EU has placed a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over the supply chain of the coronavirus vaccine.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the region receives its vaccines as part of UK procurement.
But preventing vaccines made with the EU from being exported could hinder the UK’s access to further supplies, particularly to the Belgian-made Pfizer jab.
Brussels has also demanded doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in British plants in order to solve its supply shortage issues, as member states were forced to pause or delay their rollouts.
The EU’s “vaccine export transparency mechanism” will be used until the end of March to control vaccine shipments to nations outside the bloc.
It seeks to ensure that any exporting company based in the EU first submits its plans to national authorities.
European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told a Brussels press conference: “Today the commission has adopted an implementing regulation making the export of certain products subject to an export authorisation.
“This regulation concerns the transparency and export of Covid-19 vaccines.”
The UK was not named among countries exempted from the new measures.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca published a redacted version of its contract with the EU, which the bloc said was important for “accountability”.
The contract mentions that the firm would use “best reasonable efforts” to use European plants, including two in the UK, as production sites for vaccines destined for the EU.
The row intensified as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorised the AstraZeneca jab, which it developed with Oxford University, for all adults throughout the European Union.
Pictured are a dozen books donated recently to the Robeson County Public Library by grandparents of the late Carson Davis, who battled T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and died in 2017. The books donated in his memory tell the stories of children with chronic illnesses.
Shown are Jonna Davis, left, and her son Carson Davis.
Courtesy photo
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LUMBERTON — A recent donation to the Robeson County Public Library of one dozen books written by children battling illnesses is an opportunity to learn and to find hope and courage for local children and their families.
Donna and John Morrison donated books to the library at the end of 2020 in memory their late grandson, 5-year-old Carson Davis. In 2016, Davis was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as T-ALL. He died in 2017 of a brain hemorrhage.
The Morrisons have donated annually to the library since Carson’s death, said Jonna Davis, their daughter and Carson’s mother.
The books donated in 2020 were ordered through www.booksthatheal.org, a nonprofit that helps children battling “chronic illnesses” illustrate and publish their own books, according to organization’s website.
“She (Donna) said it’s a nice memorial for him since he loved to go to the library, pick out books and read,” Davis said.
The donation also serves to support the library and add to its literary collection.
Among the books donated was “My Short Stories,” by the late 10-year-old Hanna Markham, of Lumberton. Markham battled metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma from the age of 2. She lost her battle with the form of cancer on May 20, 2020.
Stories like Markham’s show children they too can write to cope with their illnesses and publish their own books one day, Davis said.
“While she was going through treatments and fighting her battle with cancer, she was writing things and drawing,” Davis said.
Carson and Hanna went to preschool together, and she will always remember Hanna for her creativity, character and love of cats, Davis said.
“‘Strong’ is the word that comes to mind,” she said of Hanna.
And the Robeson County Public Library is honored to share her stories and the stories of others for readers young and old, Director Katie Fountain said.
“It is important for children to not only learn about other people’s experiences, but to see themselves represented in stories. Children facing serious illnesses may read these books and feel that they are not alone in their challenges,” Fountain said.
And the friends and family of children with serious illnesses may find comfort among the pages, she said.
“Having these books in our library helps celebrate those who have overcome their illness and respects the loving memory of those who are no longer with us,” Fountain said.
Knowing her son’s name is in all of the donated books is something for which she thankful, and something he too would enjoy, Davis said.
“I think it’s special,” she said.
Carson loved to read and was just starting to learn to do so on his own, Davis said. She recalled reading books to Carson and his three brothers at night.
“I think reading is important and family time together is important. I think reading opens the door to those opportunities,” Davis said.
And it also opens the door for learning, she said.
“I am grateful to John and Donna Morrison, who have regularly added books to our children’s collection since the passing of their grandson, Carson. I love seeing every book donated and that other children are learning to love books through his memory,” Fountain said.
When she first started working for the library in the Children’s Department, Carson was one of her first “library babies,” Fountain said.
“He was always so happy to be at the library with his big brothers, always smiling,” she said. “He brought joy to my day every time I saw him. Someone close to me has had leukemia for a long time, so Carson’s battle hit very close to home.”
Tears still come when she thinks him, but they’re always followed with a smile, Fountain said.
“It is impossible to think about Carson and not smile,” the library director said. “I hope our community will be inspired by his love of reading and pick up one of these books soon!”
Reach Jessica Horne at 910-416-5165 or via email at [email protected]
