Friday, 15 January 2021, 6:59 am Press Release: Euro Med Monitor
14 January 2021
Today, Euro-Med Human Rights
Monitor published a new report that documents and analyses
the involvement of Frontex in Greece‘s illegal pushbacks of
migrants and asylum seekers to Turkish waters and the
various violations of International and EU human rights laws
entailed.
The report, entitled “Frontex:
Accountability Declined”, highlights a pattern of
the excessive and alarming autonomy of Frontex, as its
budget, role and staff are augmented by the EU without clear
legal boundaries.
In the 10 pushbacks presented,
carried out by the Greek Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea
between March and October 2020, Frontex vessels were either
in close proximity or directly involved. Yet they did not
immediately rescue the migrants in distress at sea nor did
they report the abuses witnessed, as international and
European law, together with the Frontex Code of Conduct
itself, demand. On the contrary, Frontex dismissed the
allegations, discouraged crews from filing reports on
pushbacks, and, in some cases, stopped initial alerts of
violations from being filed.
The episodes presented in
the report stand out for the severity of the violations
committed, the detailed evidence reported, and the reactions
provoked so far at the European level. The allegations
led the EU Ombudsman to open an inquiry and the EU Home
Affairs Commissioner to call for two extraordinary Frontex
Management Board meetings and to establish a Working Group
on fundamental rights. It will verify the allegations and
deliver its first report next meeting, on January 21, 2021.
In the meanwhile, several European MEPs have called for the
immediate resignation of Frontex Executive
Director.
Euro-Med Monitor’s report aims to
contribute to increasing the momentum and pressure on the
European Commission to take concrete actions towards ending
Frontex’s violations and increasing its
transparency.
“As the role and the powers of Frontex
grow alarmingly, with an increasing budget of over 460
million Euro and new and controversial
military drones to surveil the Mediterranean, its
involvement in Greek pushbacks increases, and so should its
accountability,” Michela Pugliese, Legal Researcher at the
Euro-Med Monitor.
The report stresses the need to hold
Frontex into account. While return decisions and asylum
applications are the responsibility of Member States,
Frontex has the competence to ensure human rights’
compliance at the European external borders, to prevent
violations from occurring and to report it when it witnesses
one.
In the report, the Euro-Med Human Rights
Monitor formulate several recommendations calling inter alia
on:
Frontex to
immediately halt the illegal pushbacks of migrants to
Turkey; to conduct a transparent investigation and prosecute
all officials involved; to ensure that its operations and
partners are consistent with human rights’ obligations;
and to significantly enhance the information available about
its operational activities at
sea.
Europe to hold
Frontex, as well as Greece, accountable for their pushbacks
and other violations committed at the European external
borders; to impose more stringent transparency and
accountability measures over Frontex’s practices; to
ensure that Frontex activities fully respect international
human rights and refugee law, as well as the law of the sea;
and to quickly put in place an independent monitoring
mechanism.
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ATHENS: Greece called on Thursday on European Union authorities to better enforce a landmark 2016 migrant deal and ensure that Turkey take back nearly 1,500 people whose asylum requests were rejected.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said his government had submitted a “request” to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, and the Frontex border agency “for the immediate return to Turkey” of just under 1,500 “third country citizens who are not entitled to international protection.”
Under an EU-Turkey 2016 pact that sharply stemmed the flow of migrants to Europe, Ankara had undertaken to take back migrants not entitled to international protection, in return for billions of euros in aid. But Ankara has long accused the EU of not fulfilling its end of the bargain while it continues to host more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
“Europe needs to establish a common mechanism to address this issue within the new Migration and Asylum Pact, as well as implementing the necessary legal and operation mechanism for achieving returns,” Mitarachi said in a statement.
Among asylum claimants whose applications had been “conclusively” rejected on appeal, 995 are in Lesbos, 180 in Chios, 128 in Samos and 187 in Kos, the migration ministry said.
Britain turned down an EU proposal for visa-free travel for performers and journalists in post-Brexit talks, the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said in a briefing published Thursday (14 January).
His assertion, backed up by a copy of the proposal, deepens a row with London over the issue.
British pop stars, including Radiohead’s frontman Thom Yorke, have denounced the British government for not securing visa-free rights.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told UK lawmakers Wednesday “that’s not true… we wanted to have reciprocal rights for musicians to tour”.
In his briefing to a group of reporters, including from Belgium’s L’Echo newspaper, Barnier emphasised that Britain was determined to do away with freedom of movement during negotiations.
“I very much regretted that the British didn’t have more ambition for people’s mobility,” he said.
“From last March, we made fairly ambitious proposals in terms of mobility, including for specific categories such as journalists, performers, musicians and others. But you need to be two to make a deal,” he remarked.
Under the EU-UK post-Brexit deal struck last month, only workers on a short list are permitted to visit the other’s territory without a visa to carry out certain duties, subject to national laws in some EU countries.
They include businesspeople attending meetings or trade shows, transfers within a company and tourism personnel.
Musicians, actors and other performers, and journalists, are not on the list, meaning in some EU countries they would have to obtain visas, permits and/or customs clearance for any equipment.
As they would be carrying out paid work, in most cases the 90-day visa-free access for tourists and other short-stay visitors would not apply.
Yet Johnson appeared to confuse the two systems when he told MPs: “What we have is the right for UK musicians to go to play in other European countries, in EU countries, for 90 out of 180 days.”
Slovenia’s government has resumed funding for the country’s national news agency after pressure from the European Union.
The Slovenian Press Agency (STA) had been heavily criticised by Prime Minister Janez Janša, who described the agency as a “national disgrace”.
Questions over funding had been raised by the Slovenian government in December after the agency’s management allegedly failed to provide the required documents on the company’s accounts.
Slovenia told Euronews that no official decision had been made and it had only been informed of the possibility to suspend finance. The government had also asked Brussels whether the payment of such state aid to the press was not contrary to competition law.
For its part, the STA had said it refused to provide information on employees and editorial work, accusing the country’s government of violating “freedom of the press”.
But Slovenia has confirmed that the agency will regain its subsidies after Ljubljana received a letter from European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Wednesday.
“On the basis of the communication, a payment was provisionally approved … pending a final decision by the European Commission,” the government’s communication office stated.
The STA, founded in 1990, receives around €2 million per year through a service contract.
BROOKSVILLE — Canadian designer Destiny Seymour didn’t play with dolls as a child. The Manitoban would sit in the back of her mother’s hair salon and make houses for dolls, which she would give away to her friends.
Seymour, a member of the Anishinaabe First Nation tribe, designs fabric. She is one of 25 profiled in “Modern Fabric: Twenty-Five Designers on Their Inspiration and Craft” (Princeton Architectural Press), published in 2020. The book was written and compiled by Brooksville fabric artist Amelia Poole and Fiddlehead Artisan Supply owner Abby Gilchrist. The Belfast store specializes in contemporary fabric as well as art and craft supplies.
In Melborne, Australia, fabric designers Lara Cameron and Caitlin Klooger hand-print fabric on their 42.6-foot worktable. Their studio is Ink & Spindle. Arizona artist Bari J. Ackerman created the shoulder bag and fabric. PHOTO COURTESY INK & SPINDLE
“There aren’t many books about fabric designers,” said Gilchrist. “How to design yes, but there aren’t many books about the fabric designers themselves and their processes and stories.”
Poole added, “Many times, when designers are written about, the focus is the designer’s latest collection.”
Sarah Stemen, a senior editor at the Princeton Architectural Press, said, “We wanted readers, crafters, sewers, and interior designers to have a ‘go-to’ book about today’s most exciting and inspiring fabric designers.”
“At Princeton Architectural Press, we focus on art, design, architecture and beyond,” said Stemen. “Fabrics and textiles play a huge role in how we experience our surroundings; from the clothes we wear to the patterns and colors we select to enliven our homes. What is the story behind these designs?”
Although she could see Navajo designs from the United States’ Southwest, Seymour’s story was that she wasn’t finding any designs that represented her indigenous people. So, she created her own line.
Through her enterprise Indigo Arrows, Seymour incorporates and highlights the Anishinaabe’s pottery motifs and bone tools on linen pillows, table runners, napkins and other textiles. She draws inspiration (no pun intended) from the shards of pottery in the Manitoba Museum collections. The artifacts range in age from 400 to 3,000 years old.
Seymour’s personal story is just one of many in “Modern Fabric.” From around the world, the profiled fabric designers are many and range widely from Bari J. Ackerman in Arizona to Yumi Yoshomoto in Yamanashi and, closer to home, Erin Flett in Gorham. From so many to choose from, how did the book’s authors winnow their list of prospective subjects?
Brooksville textile artist Amelia Poole (above) and Fiddlehead Artisan Supply store owner Abby Gilchrist (left) co-authored “Modern Fabric: Twenty-Five Designers on Their Inspiration and Craft.”
Aesthetically speaking, Poole and Gilchrist’s primary criteria was whether the designer’s fabric would be a fit for Fiddlehead Artisan Supply. Diversity was also figured in their selection of subjects. The authors said they didn’t want to just present the most established designers or those representing one element of the fabric design industry.
Poole and Gilchrist then interviewed the 25 designers in person, via email and by telephone. They also attended the annual The Quilt Market in Houston, where they landed interviews with some of the biggest names in the fabric world, including Kaffe Fassett (rhymes with “safe asset”).
Fassett was the first living designer to have an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1988 and is known for colorful, extravagant designs.
They also searched for less known designers.
“We wanted to feature a range of modern design styles and methods and types of production,” they wrote in the wrote in the “Modern Fabric” preface. “We found a broad array: designers who work with fabric companies and those designing independently, those who design for large-scale production and those who screen print or block print their own designs.”
The book is packed with vivid, colorful photographs of each designer’s work as well as their workspaces. The images capture their processes for designing and in some cases manufacturing their pieces.
Gilchrist curated the photos for which there were thousands of possibilities. The designers supplied most of the photos, but Gilchrist shot a few herself.
London designer Sally Kelly created a limited-edition print “Twilight Dancer” during the United Kingdom’s coronavirus lockdown earlier this year. PHOTO COURTESY SALLY KELLY
“It was just so much work to go through all the photos,” she said. Some designers would send a carefully edited package of photos that they felt best represented their work while others simply sent a Dropbox link for all of their images and said “have at it.”
“I worked really hard to match the photos to the text and have all the images work together,” Gilchrist said.
What defines modern fabric exactly? There is no easy answer.
“Initially, we thought there was a definition for modern fabric,” Poole said “But, it’s an overall indefinable aesthetic and each has their own take on that.”
“Kaffe Fassett and [New York designer] Giuseppe A. Ribaudo design fabric for the projects they have in their heads,” Poole said. “They’re designing very particular fabrics in order to make the quilts they want to make. Either because they couldn’t find the fabric they were dreaming of or had specific ideas.”
Other designers are inspired by trends on social media or historical textiles and imagery or just deep thoughts about their work.
Serbian artist Katarina Dragutinovic Roccella painted seashells by hand and then created digitized images of them to print fabric with.
“Destiny [Seymour] is bringing her ancestors forward,” Poole said. “They’re of course gorgeous fabrics for anyone as well.”
Destiny Seymour sums up her aim in the Indigo Arrows website’s about page:
“For thousands of years, indigenous peoples in Manitoba, including my Anishinaabe ancestors, created beautiful patterns to adorn their pottery collections and host of bone tools,” she writes. “Most of the surviving pieces are held by museums now, but I think the world needs more than exhibition. We need these patterns in our homes provoking thought; we need them bridging gaps; and, we need them inspiring our loved ones. The Indigo Arrows line picks up where my ancestors left off.”
“Modern Fabric” can be purchased online or at Fiddlehead Artisan Supply at 64 Main St. in Belfast. To learn more about the shop, visit fiddleheadartisansupply.com. To learn more about Amelia Poole and her fabric designs, visit ecouturetextilestudio.com.
News Reporter Jennifer Osborn covers news and features on the Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle-Stonington. She welcomes tips and story ideas. She also writes the Gone Shopping column. Email Jennifer with your suggestions at [email protected] or call 667-2576.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, was addressing the latest session of the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 established under the International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks.
The new coronavirus that sparked the pandemic first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019. Tedros reported that most of the 15 members of the delayed mission are now in the city, although two people are still in Singapore awaiting COVID-19 test results.
“All members of the team had multiple negative PCR and antibody tests in their homes countries prior to traveling”, he said.
“The team members who have arrived in Wuhan will be in quarantine for the next two weeks, and will begin working remotely with counterparts in China. They will then continue their work on the ground for a further two weeks.”
Thursday marked the sixth meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee on COVID-19.
Members first convened a year ago, when there were less than 560 cases of the new disease. Today, more than 90 million cases have been reported globally, and the death toll has almost reached two million.
Tedros said although the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines represents “hope of light at the end of the tunnel”, focus is now on ensuring all countries can access them on an equitable basis.
He also highlighted two urgent issues for the committee’s attention: the recent emergence of multiple new variants of the virus, and the potential use of vaccination and testing certificates for international travel.
“One theme ties both issues together: solidarity”, said Tedros. “We cannot afford to prioritize or punish certain groups or countries. We are all in this together, and we must all come out of it together.”
Challenges in Africa
Meanwhile, the UN agency has warned of the need to avert a “runaway surge” of infections in Africa, as cases there top three million and new variants of the virus emerge on the continent.
COVID-19 cases have risen steadily since mid-September, with a steeper rise from late November, and could increase in the wake of the Christmas and New Year holidays due to travel and festive gatherings.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said although virus mutations are not surprising, preliminary analysis reveals that a new variant circulating widely in South Africa, known as 501Y.V2, is more transmissible.
“Even if the new variant is not more virulent, a virus that can spread more easily will put further strain on hospitals and health workers who are in many cases already overstretched”, she said.
“This is a stark reminder that the virus is relentless, that it still presents a manifest threat, and that our war is far from won.”
WHO is supporting African countries with reinforcing genome sequencing efforts, key to finding and understanding new COVID-19 variants.
So far, 501Y.V2 has been identified in Botswana, the Gambia and Zambia, while Nigeria is further investigating another variant found in samples collected in August and November. The virus variant circulating in the United Kingdom has not been reported on the continent.
LONDON (AP) – British musicians are demanding that the UK government faces the music after new post-Brexit regulations failed to consider their unique work lives and left them in the lurch.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been wary about taking measures that would hamper economic activity, while he has put on a brave face against the mounting challenges of hosting the delayed Olympics in Tokyo this year.
Japan’s coronavirus cases topped 300,000 on Wednesday, while the death toll reached 4,187, public broadcaster NHK said.
As infections hover at record levels, straining the country’s medical system, opinion polls have shown a public increasingly opposed to holding the Summer Games and growing frustration with Suga.
In a weekend survey by NHK, just 16% of respondents said the Games should go ahead – down 11 percentage points from the previous poll last month – while a combined 77% thought they should be cancelled or postponed. The Games are set for July 23 to Aug. 8.
Even Takeshi Niinami, CEO of beverage giant Suntory Holdings and an economic adviser to Suga, told Reuters he was unsure whether the Olympics could be held as planned, and that a decision will likely be made by end-March.
Suga announced the expanded state of emergency to include Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi prefectures from Thursday at a task force meeting. He will hold a news conference 7 p.m. (1000 GMT).
The latest emergency declaration covering 55% of Japan’s population of 126 million is set to last through Feb. 7 and is much narrower in scope than the first one last spring. It focuses on combating transmission in bars and restaurants, while urging people to stay home as much as possible.
The government will also suspend an entry-ban exemption for business travellers from 11 previously designated countries and regions during the state of emergency.
Suga has been criticised for what many observers have said was a slow and confusing response to the pandemic. That is a sharp reversal from the strong support he enjoyed at the start of his tenure, when he was seen as a “man of the people” who could push through reforms.
Among the most controversial moves has been a scheme that subsidised local tourism, encouraging millions to travel domestically. That was put on hold late last year.
Political analyst Atsuo Ito said he saw two major problems with Suga’s response to the pandemic: that it was incremental and slow, and that he was a poor communicator despite having been the top government spokesman in his previous role as chief cabinet secretary.
“He has almost no skill at messaging. Even at press conferences he’s looking down and reading notes. That doesn’t invite trust from citizens … The result is that his support ratings are falling,” Ito said.
Suga’s approval rate fell below those who disapproved for the first time in an NHK poll since he took office in September – by 40% to 41%.
The poll also showed 88% think Feb. 7 is too early to lift the state of emergency – a view shared by many experts.
“It’s very unlikely we’ll see cases go down after just a month,” said Yoshihito Niki, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Showa University Hospital.
“Japan has been called a success story and there’s been discussion about the so-called Factor X – something that makes the Japanese more resistant to the virus – but that’s a complete fantasy,” Niki said.
The Slovenian government said on Thursday (14 January) it had restored the financing of national news agency STA after Brussels warned against any attempt to pressure public media outlets.
STA has come under fire from right-wing Prime Minister Janez Janša for what he called unfair criticism in its reporting.
“We have authorised the payment” to the agency, a government statement said.
The government announced it was halting money for STA in December after saying management had failed to correctly file accounts.
In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Dutch parliament urging its government to sue Poland before the EU Court for disrespecting the rule of law, France saying it will only accept the EU-UK withdrawal agreement if its interests are respected, and so much more.
Later in December, parliament adopted a package of emergency coronavirus measures which included a provision calling for the resumption of STA payments.
However, the government then referred the question to the European Union claiming the funding could breach EU rules on state aid and competition.
The European Commission insisted Monday the nature of the funding meant it did not have to approve the payments and warned all member states against attempts to pressure the media, saying public media “play a special role in the European Union”.
STA was founded in 1990 when the country decided to leave the former Yugoslav federation and it had been receiving two million euros in public funds annually.
Since assuming office in March, Janša has used his Twitter account to attack media outlets which have questioned his handling of the coronavirus crisis, accusing them of spreading lies and serving opposition interests.
In October, Janša tweeted that STA was a “national disgrace, an evident abuse of the name it carries” for having given more space to an interview with a musician who criticised the government than to his meeting with close ally Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s nationalist prime minister.
Janša is well-known as an admirer of Orbán and of outgoing US President Donald Trump.
