Following yesterday’s debate (January 21), the European Parliament resolution on the human rights situation in Turkey, in particular the case of Selahattin Demirtaş and other prisoners of conscience, was voted by the Members of the European Parliament (MEP). The resolution has been approved by 590 votes in favour, 16 against and 75 abstentions.
Referring to former Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, the MEPs have called for “the immediate and unconditional release of Turkish opposition politician, former MP and former presidential candidate Demirtaş, who has been detained for more than four years by Turkish authorities on unsubstantiated charges and in spite of two European Court of Human Rights rulings in favour of his release.”
The MEPs have also demanded that all politically motivated charges against him and fellow members of the opposition HDP party be dropped.
They have also called on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) to “urgently review, in its next meeting on March 21, 2021, Turkey’s refusal to execute the judgment of the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR in the case of Demirtaş v Turkey, to adopt a declaration on the matter, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Government of Turkey implements this judgment without any further delay.”
‘Put an end to judicial harassment’
The resolution of the MEPs has further stated that “Turkey’s sustained backsliding on the independence of the judiciary and the disregard shown by the Turkish judiciary and authorities for rulings by the European Court of Human Rights are of great concern.”
The resolution of the parliament has called on the authorities in Turkey to “put an end to its judicial harassment of human rights defenders, academics, journalists, spiritual leaders, lawyers and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities.”
MEPs have stressed that “respecting and applying the rulings of the ECtHR would go some way to confirming that the desire to turn a new page in EU-Turkey relations,” expressed by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other top government officials on 9 January of this year, is “sincere.”
Improved EU-Turkey relations are fully dependent on, among other things, tangible improvements in respect for democratic principles, the rule of law and fundamental rights within Turkey, they have said. (EKN/SD)
The Network for Democracy and Development (NDD) has stressed the need for Nigeria to leverage religion to promote peaceful co-existence in the country. The group, in a communiqué after a virtual press conference, said the high degree of mutual mistrust among Nigerians and the attendant tension that this generates should be a matter of concern for all, as cries of marginalization – real and imagined – are rife across the country.
The communiqué, signed by its National Coordinator, Tajudeen Alabede, said: “It is sad that Nigerians carry on as if the two main religions – Islam and Christianity – as well as the ethnic groups, especially the major ones, are political parties, which are in contest for power. “To a large extent, these issues, rather than good governance and sustainable development, still define our politics. Many Nigerians still care more about having their own people in positions of authority than having the right people who can deliver on the mandate of such offices.
“In 2020, three issues generated avoidable religious controversy on the national stage, namely the new Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, the death of Alhaja Asiyat Oyedepo and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s Christmas homily. While we have seen a rise in ethnic agitation across the country, the protests by youths against police brutality last October brought to the fore the nation’s fragile fabrics.”
The group, therefore called on the Federal Government, especially the National Assembly, to review the inter-ethnic and inter-religious situation in the country and come up with laws that would guarantee Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and rights of citizens towards the attainment of greater national peace and stability.
“While there should be equal opportunity for all citizens, the policy on federal character should be reviewed to recognise the comparative advantage of states and regions,” it stated.
In order to build a more united and peaceful nation, NDD said that a country as diverse as Nigeria could not rely solely on partisan politics for sustainable governance.
“Thus, in our memorandum to the Ad-hoc Committee of the Senate on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, we recommended the conversion of the upper chamber of the National Assembly to a part-time, advisory body that would comprise cultural, religious, professional and civil society leaders.
“In the alternative, government may establish a permanent structure that will bring the nation’s cultural, religious, professional and civil society leaders into the governance system. Before now, government usually remembers these critical stakeholders at moments of crises. This has to change,” NDD stated.
It therefore recommended the recognition of the six geopolitical zones as the basis for political balancing in the Constitution, equal number of members of the House of Representatives from each of the states, equal number of ministers from each of the geopolitical Zones, and rotation of the office of the president among the six geopolitical zones.
The EU has a large fleet that fishes outside European waters. Nearly a third of its catch comes from non-EU waters, most of which belong to developing countries. Where and how much the EU’s “external fleet” can fish is set out in a number of agreements between member states and partner countries, and while these agreements are built on the idea of fairness and sustainability, in our new study we found that this is difficult to truly assess because of a lack of transparency.
UN law recognises the rights of coastal nations to control fish harvests within their national waters, a 200 nautical-mile limit from their coastline. These “exclusive economic zones” cover around 35% of the ocean, bringing about 90% of global fisheries under the control of coastal states. Since 1982, the only way a foreign nation can legally fish in the waters of a coastal nation is through specific fishery agreements between both parties.
The EU’s external fishing activities are also governed by the Common Fisheries Policy, structured around bilateral agreements known as sustainable fisheries partnership agreements – which countries use to give access to EU vessels – and multilateral agreements that control fishing on the high seas.
Alongside ensuring access to global fishing zones and resources, the aims of the Common Fisheries Policy include: contributing to the sustainable development of world fisheries; tackling destructive fishing practices; improving research and data; combating illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; and strengthening control and inspections.
Our series on the global ocean opened with five in depth profiles. Look out for new articles on the state of our oceans in the lead up to the UN’s next climate conference, COP26. The series is brought to you by The Conversation’s international network.
To do this, the EU provides financial contributions and technical support to partner countries. The EU now regulates numerous such agreements with countries in east and west Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the North Atlantic. In 2009, 14 non-EU countries were collectively paid nearly €150 million (Pound 133 million), making the EU’s financial contributions substantial – and often the main source of revenue for the fisheries ministries of these countries.
And by keeping fishing within the resource limits of partner countries, involving all stakeholders, and contributing to the social and economic development of often less-developed partner countries, these agreements – in theory – are a major step in ensuring the sustainability of the EU’s fishing activities.
The flipside
Agreements have the potential to contribute to food security, economic growth and environmental and social resilience in partner countries. However, insufficient, inaccurate and non-public data makes it difficult to properly evaluate these contributions.
For example, partner countries may not be able to fish far offshore from a lack of local vessels that can reach distant fishing grounds. Although EU states paying for access to these otherwise inaccessible waters would appear to make good sense, it isn’t always fair and sustainable.
Take Senegal. Under EU fisheries agreements, the amount of fish caught between 1994 and 2005 fell from 95,000 to 45,000 tonnes due to the overexploitation of stocks. Locally-owned vessels also dropped by 48% between 1998 and 2008.
The EU’s agreement with Senegal was cancelled in 2006 after Senegal demanded additional compensation. But in 2014, another agreement (for tuna and hake) was concluded worth US$1.9 million (Pound 1.4 million) annually, to be renewed every five years, with US$1 million earmarked to promote the sustainable management of Senegal’s fisheries.
Improved access to knowledge, markets, services and opportunities is also a potential benefit for partner countries. But although fish caught in other nations’s waters should be fished according to EU law, there have been numerous cases of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by EU vessels in non-EU waters.
Building in sustainable goals
Our new paper, published in Fish and Fisheries, is an attempt to evaluate the true sustainability of the EU’s external fleet by comparing it with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include aims to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
While fishing and fisheries most directly relate to SDG 14, to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans”, we found many more goals where the EU external fleet implicitly interacts. Creating jobs from investments in production and helping to reduce poverty in partner countries, for example, aligns the goal to eliminate poverty (SDG 1), and the goal to provide decent work and economic growth (SGD 8). Other areas that relate to SDGs include health and safety regulations and social security (SDG 3) and the employment of millions of women in the fishing sector (SDG 5), though many are found in the informal economy or in marginalised roles in the supply chain
Improving the data
Our thinking was that EU fishing policy should explicitly engage with sustainable goals other than SDG 14, especially if the EU is to honour its commitment to achieving sustainability across the board by 2030. And we hoped that our research would help to better understand the relationship between EU policy and wider sustainable goals.
But what we discovered was a lack of open-access data and transparency from EU members states and partner countries, reducing their accountability and making it difficult to properly evaluate the true economic, social and environmental sustainability of these fishing activities.
Vessel operators and partner countries must better report data on catch, bycatch, vessel registrations, and labour conditions – and how EU funds are used within partner countries. Clearer, standardised systems for data collection, verification of third parties, and better technologies for monitoring and reporting is also certainly needed. If such improvements are not made, progress towards sustainable, accountable, transparent and fair external fishing practices will remain slow.
Although the external fleet is only a small part of the EU’s drive towards sustainability, equity and global leadership in fisheries, it has an important role to play in people’s lives and marine ecosystems around the world. Policy should be better integrated with efforts directly targeting SDGs on ocean health, social resilience and economic improvement. If the EU prioritises reporting on how its external fisheries specifically support these outcomes, as well as poverty reduction, gender equality, inclusion and human rights, it will go a long way to making sure that its commercial agreements are not just sustainable in name only.
Authors: Andrew Frederick Johnson – Assistant Professor, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University | Ingrid Kelling – Assistant Professor of Seafood Sustainability and Ethics, Heriot-Watt University
Event marking World Religion Day brings religious communities together around what binds them all together. (Footage by Laurence Korup)
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Under a tent in the peaceful environs of a nature park in Port Moresby, leaders and representatives of the diverse religious communities of Papua New Guinea (PNG) achieved on Monday what they had long hoped for: to gather in unity around what binds them all together.
The interfaith gathering marked World Religion Day and was a joint effort among many faith communities in the country. The idea for the event was suggested by the Bahá’ís of PNG last month, which struck a chord with the country’s religious leaders.
Gezina Volmer, Director of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs of the country says, “The intention for World Religion Day was to create a space in which we could focus on the sharing of Holy writings around the one point that all agree on—the golden rule of treating others as one would wish to be treated, and, by doing so, highlighting that the purpose of religion is to foster love and harmony. Despite the initial trepidation, this focus allowed everyone to feel quite comfortable in participating.”
Preparing for the occasion and building consensus
Ms. Volmer explains that preparatory meetings were necessary in the lead up to the occasion in order to build consensus.
“The very first meeting was simply about bringing people together,” says Ms. Volmer. “It wasn’t more complicated than that. Because, if we don’t know how to come together, then this is the first step.”
Slideshow 5 imagesIn-person gatherings were held according to safety measures required by the government. Since the event, government mandates now require the wearing of masks. Gezina Volmer, Director of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs of the country, explains that preparatory meetings in the lead up to World Religion Day were necessary in order to build consensus among faith communities. “The very first meeting was simply about bringing people together,” says Ms. Volmer. “It wasn’t more complicated than that. Because, if we don’t know how to come together, then this is the first step.
Ms. Volmer continues to explain how the preparatory meetings strengthened bonds of friendship by allowing participants to contribute to some aspect of the program and to be of service to each other. “It was a collective effort”, she says. “There was a lot of joy. We all worked shoulder-to-shoulder.”
As friendships grew stronger, the warm and welcoming environment attracted new participants each week. Ms. Volmer says, “When a new person joined, we would pause to make sure they would be brought up to speed. Everyone embraced new representatives as they got on board.”
A first-of-its-kind gathering
Imam Busaeri Ismaeel Adekunle, head of the Islamic Society of Papua New Guinea, says “As everyone expressed that day, this was a unique occasion and a first in our country.”
Commenting on the atmosphere of the World Religion Day gathering, Zha Agabe-Granfar of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs says, “This was a gathering under the ‘tent of unity’, as everyone listened to each other in an atmosphere of love, respect, and tolerance.”
After weeks of collaboration, the Monday event was an expression of what the religious communities had achieved together. In a peaceful setting in Port Moresby, holy texts from different religions were recited in several languages. When a representative of the Jewish community was unable to attend, a member of another faith who was fluent in Hebrew stepped forward to ensure scriptures of the Jewish faith would be heard.
Cardinal Sir John Ribat, Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese in Port Moresby who collaborated with the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs in organizing the World Religion Day event, offers his observations about the occasion, stating:
“Everyone was sharing the same message [of love] but from a different perspective. What does this mean? For me, the way I understand it is that with love one does not hold anything against another. It’s really the giving of one’s self fully for the good of the other. That it is about sacrificing for the other.
“We are all happy with how things turned out.”
The event was covered by a national newspaper and several online publications, as well as broadcast live on radio.
Walking together on a new path
The participants of the gathering, seeing new possibilities for further collaboration, have already planned to meet next week to reflect on future progress. Ms. Volmer says, “All of those involved have seen this as a precursor to a more profound dialogue on the role of religion in society.
“The reason for this is that in our society religion is an important part of the life of every individual, every family, and even institutions. Yet, people sometimes find it difficult to relate to one another because of the differences in their religious beliefs and practices. As a nation, we talk about being one, but how can we come together as one? The process leading up to World Religion Day and the event itself have given us a powerful example of how this is possible.”
Slideshow 5 imagesIn-person gatherings were held according to safety measures required by the government. Since the event, government mandates now require the wearing of masks. The participants of the gathering, seeing new possibilities for further collaboration, plan to continue to meet and reflect on future progress. Ms. Volmer of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs says, “All of those involved have seen this as a precursor to a more profound dialogue on the role of religion in society.” (Credit: Roan Paul)
Imam Ismaeel explains that the faith leaders hope that the mode of interaction among them in these gatherings will inspire the members of their communities to act in the same way. “[The event] has come and gone”, he continues, “and now we are going to the next stage. The going is good now.”
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of PNG sees a new path emerging before the faith communities of the country. Confucius Ikoirere, Secretary of the National Assembly, says, “The greater degrees of unity achieved among the religious leaders over the past month represents greater degrees of unity among entire religious communities, and signifies, however imperceptible it may be now, greater unity in our country.”
Ms. Agabe-Granfar says that the connection among those who have walked together through this process is profound. “Just months ago, many religious leaders and representatives barely knew or had yet to meet each other prior to this process. But as is common in Melanesian culture, once we know and understand each other, all arms are wide open.”
The same old dubious titles start their New Year’s march to the top of the SA charts.
New year, new you – right? So the oft-repeated saying goes, adopted by retailers of all stripes. But in South Africa, this cherished maxim does not extend to books.
Every year the sales charts tell the same story: our giddy romp through the richly-sown aisles of enticing new fiction and non-fiction comes to a screeching halt at approximately midnight on December 24th, and as a nation, we collectively revert to type. We lose interest in new books. We drag ourselves back to old ones.
Entering the bookshop, we avoid eye-contact with the beautiful festive season hardbacks, still glowing like polished apples in their merchandised piles, waiting in vain for stragglers to pluck them up and take a bite. As though our minds were fully under the control of a parasite – the zombie-ant fungus, but for literature – we breeze past, approach a bookseller and, without a shred of self-consciousness, ask: “Do you have The Alchemist?”
The Alchemist: a zombie book, devouring human brains.
See how it metastasizes stealthily, steadily back up the rankings in January, having been suppressed temporarily by publishers’ well-timed yuletide bestsellers, but now regaining its hold on our imaginations and wallets. Why, just yesterday it was skulking in exile outside the top 35; blink and lo! …it’s suddenly number 19, and rising.
I implore you not to buy The Alchemist this year. You think you’re turning over a new spiritual leaf, acquiring this book – or encouraging someone out of a rut by giving it to them – but in fact, you’re merely succumbing to the conditioning of popular culture. You’re following the prompts. You can do better.
Alongside Paolo Coelho’s blindweed-like bestseller, be sure to avoid a couple of other popular titles whose tempting purchase feels like a safe step toward changing your life, but instead simply makes you – and the literary ecosystem that you, as a book buyer, naturally want to see flourish – poorer. They are:
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The twisted genius of this book lies in how it strikes at the heart of every father, who automatically thinks he’s the poor dad, and that spending R150 on a slim paperback will magically move him into the other category. Remember: once you’ve bought this book, you can’t exchange it for lottery tickets, which have about the same effectiveness in making you rich, but at least come with a bit of excitement.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. Sharma’s other bestseller, The 5AM Club, you can easily evade just by reading its title, which gives you the book’s entire lesson in a single glance. But The Monk seemingly has mystery – that is, until you Google its author and discover that his net worth went up considerably after he got rid of the sports car. Sharma is the monk who found a better grift, and you’re the mark.
Books like these (and there are more, oh so many more lurking in the charts) comprise, collectively, a literary desert. The trick is to recollect, while you’re holding such a book in your hands, that you’re standing in an oasis. Reclaiming the inner spark that led you to seek self-improvement is simply a matter of exploring other books nearby. Dive in! Find something you’ve never heard of.
Dare I say – try a novel? Nothing inoculates against zombie brain like a dose of fiction. How about Helen Moffett’s Jane Austen tribute, Charlotte? Or Angela Makholwa’s thriller, Critical But, Stable? Reading fresh literature will do you a world more good than slogging along with the rest of the Coelho- and Kiyosaki-addled undead. Go ahead, adopt my mantra as your own: new year, new books. DM/ ML
Ben Williams is the Publisher of The Johannesburg Review of Books. He’s formerly the Books Editor of the Sunday Times and the General Manager for Marketing at Exclusive Books.
BULAWAYO-based minister of religion, gospel artist and leader of the Dumoluhle gospel ensemble, Reverend Dumoluhle Ndlovu of Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) is impressed by the reception his recently launched album is getting.
Titled Makwenziwe Indumiso, the 11-track album which features prominent gospel artist, Bethany Pasinawako on a track titled Ngiyabonga Baba has tracks, Ligcwalise Izwi lakho, Bika Konke KuJesu, Wazithwala Izono uJesu, Wenjenje uYehovah, Ungithwale, Ngikhangele Ngobubele, Shoko Renyu, Nkosi yami ubundithanda, Uphakeme and UThixo Unathi (bonus track).
“The album was launched on Facebook last Saturday and we’re looking forward to releasing it on WhatsApp anytime soon. To expand the album’s reach, we’ve submitted it to radio stations like Skyz Metro FM, Khulumani FM, National FM and Radio Zim, Radio 54 (UK) for consideration for airplay.
“Before the album launch, I did a pre-album release with Khulumani FM and I’m grateful for the support I was given by the station as it made the actual launch a success,” Ndlovu said.
Having dropped his debut album titled Makwenziwe Indumiso in 2019, Ndlovu has not turned back since.
“I’m appealing to fans in the country and those across borders to continue supporting me, even financially, on this new album,” he said.
On how he manages his calling and the demands of his musical career, Ndlovu said it’s all about time management.
“I’m a full time minister at Methodist Church in Zimbabwe and as for balancing the two, gospel music is part of ministering to people so I can safely say it’s a tool that’s used in Ministry. So it’s not that difficult to balance,” he said.
The European Parliament has voted to adopt a report recommending legislative action on the right to disconnect, an effort that was spearheaded by Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba.
The majority of MEPs at the session on Wednesday voted in favour of the report, with 472 votes in favour, 126 against and 83 abstentions. The results of the vote were announced in the parliament on Thursday afternoon.
After debating the report during a plenary session in parliament on Wednesday, the parliament will now formally recommend that the European Commission propose a directive which will require member states to adopt a minimum set of standards that guarantee workers the right to disconnect.
The right to disconnect or switch off, as it is sometimes referred to, is a concept that comes from the idea that due to work-related communication being carried out on modern technology, employees feel they are always ‘on call’ and feel pressure to carry out tasks like answering texts, emails or phone calls outside their regular working hours.
Proponents of the concept say it has led to a degradation of quality of life as the consequences of constant connection lead to diminished rest time for workers.
Labour MEP Agius Saliba spearheaded a report demanding the right to digitally disconnect, which the European Parliament’s employment committee approved in a vote last December.
In a video message posted to Facebook shortly after the vote was announced, Agius Saliba expressed his satisfaction that over 70% of MEPs voted for the adoption of his report.
“Despite the obstacles we faced, we continued to work hard to find compromises to keep this vote alive and ultimately for this important right to be given to all workers throughout member states,” Agius Saliba said.
“Now it’s on the European Commission to enact this legislation that we wrote and negotiated to go into effect and be enjoyed by all citizens.”
“We cannot continue to treat workers like robots and prevent them from enjoying their fundamental rights to rest, to enjoy their loved ones without being hampered by work-related texts and emails. Today the European Parliament voted not to turn its back on the workers it represents.”
Agius Saliba called on European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit to take action quickly and start discussions with the European Commission so that workers may have access to their rights as quickly as possible.
His report recommends a directive that would introduce the minimum requirement of using digital tools outside working time and offer the right to disconnect for all workers and provide sufficient records of working time for workers to be able to impose their limits.
Employees will also be able to ask for fair compensation and be protected when looking to enforce their rights, to ensure they do not face negative repercussions as a result.
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