They discussed human rights in the digital age and how to make digital technology work for human rights. Director O’Flaherty spoke on making digital technology work for freedom of expression and access to information. The dialogue brought up important issues to be addressed from a human rights perspective, including the digital divide and a stronger engagement with private companies.
New international network for freedom of religion and belief
.jpg?w=696&resize=696,0&ssl=1 "New international network for freedom of religion and belief")
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development’ Office’s UK Aid Connect Fund brings together organisations to create innovative solutions to complex development challenges that deliver real change to the lives of people living in poverty.
The Freedom of Religion and Belief Leadership Network (FoRBLN) will be led by researchers at the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion (CSSC), part of Oxford’s School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. Network partners include the Church of England, the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs, the Jinnah Institute and the Danish Institute of Human Rights and the eight countries in Africa and Asia.
Freedom of religion or belief is under pressure in many parts of the world and this pressure is arguably greater than at any time since 1945…Countries where religious freedom is guaranteed are likely to be more peaceful and prosperous than those that do not
According to the FoRBLN, ‘Freedom of religion or belief is under pressure in many parts of the world and this pressure is arguably greater than at any time since 1945….
‘Countries where religious freedom is guaranteed are likely to be more peaceful and prosperous than those that do not. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation, but…the practice of religion itself involves speech, assembly, and communication through the media, all of which demand accompanying civil and human rights.’
The aim of today’s move is to build a network of FoRB leaders (parliamentarians and religious leaders) which can respond to the challenges in their countries and the wider regions. This will be achieved by delivering training on FoRB issues, so they can propose initiatives for their national or regional contexts and providing them with technical assistance and expertise to allow delivery. This training will be supported by cutting edge research on the role of FoRB in creating more tolerant and peaceful societies.
Professor Harvey Whitehouse, CSSC director, says, ‘Barrier-crossing leaders have a vital role to play in tackling sectarianism and religious intolerance. This kind of leadership can increase the prospect of cooperation not just within but also across the many interest groups that struggle for survival in the world’s most fragile states.
‘Our leadership network will allow us to investigate more deeply than ever before the psychological mechanisms utilised by barrier-crossing leaders by conducting comparative research in eight countries where FoRB is under threat.’
Dr Pieter Francois, CSSC’s Deputy Director and the overall network lead and principal investigator, says, ‘This project is a fantastic opportunity to foster and to understand better the value of freedom of religion or belief.
‘The combination of delivering training, raising awareness, and conducting research…is unique….we will be able to create a robust set of good practices, standards, and metrics which can then be utilised in a much wider range of countries. The impact of this project will be long term and global.’
This project is a fantastic opportunity to foster and to understand better the value of freedom of religion or belief
Dr Pieter Francois
Meanwhile, the former Northern Irish political leader, who led the cross-community Alliance Party, Professor, the Lord Alderdice, director of Oxford’s Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC) and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the network, says, ‘As the world slips into an increasing polarisation of views, promoting freedom of religion or belief becomes both more difficult and more essential.’
‘It is not only a matter of human rights and the maintenance of economic development and intellectual progress; it is essential if we are to prevent our countries from increasing violence against the individual and indeed from catastrophic wars. As our Centre has explored the problem of violent political conflict, we have been forced to address freedom of religion or belief to better understand and find ways to mitigate this other 21st century plague.’
Based on the CSSC’s expertise in group bonding and its impact on intergroup relations, the research aims to understand the psychological processes that can enable religious and political leaders to cross group boundaries and facilitate understanding between factions, as well as those factors that can obstruct the crossing of these barriers and encourage more entrenched and volatile forms of outgroup hostility.
As the world slips into an increasing polarisation of views, promoting freedom of religion or belief becomes both more difficult and more essential
Professor, the Lord Alderdice
The FoRBLN consortium consists of 11 partners: Tier 1 – The Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion (CSSC) at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford; Tier 2 – Church of England; Tier 3 – African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), Drik Picture Library and Gallery, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Panel of Parliamentarians for FoRB (IPPFoRB), Jinnah Institute, Nordic Ecumenical Network on FoRB (NORFoRB), Pak Mission Society (PMS) and Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA).
UK Prime Minister Facing Criticism After Failing to Unlock Post-Brexit Trade Talks With EU
“One year after Boris Johnson promised us an oven-ready deal he has completely failed. The failure to deliver the deal he promised is his and his alone,” Labour Party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote on Twitter.
Rayner was reacting to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office that said that during the face-to-face talks Johnson and Von der de Leyen held last night, both leaders had “acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides.”
They also commonly agreed to set Sunday as the final deadline to make a decision about the future of the trade talks.
The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, but as part of the withdrawal agreement, both sides entered an 11-month transition period to negotiate their future commercial relations.
Trade talks have been at an impasse for months over wide divergences over fishing quotas, the level-playing field — the set of common rules and standards designed to prevent businesses in one country from undercutting their rivals in other countries — and governance.
Scottish National Party’s Parliament leader, Ian Blackford also took to Twitter to criticize Johnson and said that a no-deal outcome “would be a massive failure” of his diplomacy and leadership.
“The UK Govt continues to spin about an Australian style deal. For the absence of doubt that means no deal. It means world trade organisation rules, it means damaging tariffs devastating manufacturing, farming and fishing. It would mean come January food & medicine shortages,” Blackford said in another tweet.
Earlier on Wednesday, Opposition leader had slammed Johnson at the Prime Minister’s Question Hour in Parliament over his delay in reaching a deal with the EU.
“The Prime Minister said he had a deal. He didn’t. He said he would protect jobs. He didn’t. He said he would prepare for any outcome. He hasn’t. And whatever may happen in the next few days, there is no doubting that his incompetence has held Britain back. So, would he end this charade, and end that uncertainty, get the deal that he promised and allow the country to move on?” he said.
If no trade deal is secured before the year’s end, the World Trade Organization’s rules will come into effect starting in 2021, including customs tariffs and full border checks for UK goods going across the English Channel.
Britons may need visas to enter EU for long stays from January
<div id="attachment_607771" class="wp-caption alignnone" readability="32"> <p id="caption-attachment-607771" class="wp-caption-text">UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Britons will need visas for long stays in EU from January</p>
Britons may need visas for stays in the European Union longer than three months, French European Affairs junior minister Clement Beaune said on Thursday.
Beaune said the matter was still being negotiated.
“Whatever happens on Jan. 1, we will be in a different universe. We are ready,” Beaune said.
Beaune spoke as Britain warned the European Union that it must make significant concessions to break the impasse in Brexit trade talks by the end of the weekend to give some finality to the five year Brexit crisis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union’s chief executive gave themselves until the end of the weekend to seal a new trade pact after failing to overcome persistent rifts over a “lively” dinner of turbot on Wednesday.
“There’s still clearly some scope to keep talking but there are significant points of difference that remain,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC TV.
“(On) Sunday, they need to take stock and decide on the future of negotiations.”
“Sunday I think is an important moment,” Raab told Sky News. “You never say never in these talks, but I think we do need to get some finality.”
Britain formally left the EU in January, but has since been in a transition period during which it remains in the EU single market and customs union, meaning that rules on trade, travel and business have stayed the same.
That ends on Dec. 31. If by then there is no agreement to protect around $1 trillion in annual trade from tariffs and quotas, businesses on both sides will suffer.
Failure to agree new rules to govern everything from car parts to Camembert would snarl borders, shock financial markets and sow chaos through supply chains in a world already grappling with the economic cost of COVID-19.
Johnson portrays Brexit as a chance to give Britain a fully independent, more agile economy. EU powers fear London wants the best of both worlds – preferential access to EU markets but with the advantage to set its own rules.
That, they say, would undermine the post-World War Two project which sought to bind the ruined nations of Europe – and particularly Germany and France – into a global trading power.
Raab said the main points of contention – fisheries and commitments on a level playing field – were narrow in scope but they were matters of principle for Britain.
<h3 class="jp-relatedposts-headline"><em>Related</em></h3>
UK Foreign Secretary on Brexit Deal: Never Say Never When Negotiating With EU
Never say never when negotiating with the European Union, says UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as London and Brussels are engaged in last-minute talks over the future of their trade relationship post-Brexit.
He noted that London would need to see “substantial movement” by Sunday – the day picked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen as a final deadline for a Brexit deal. At the same time, the top diplomat said that real progress needs to be made for the negotiations to continue beyond the Sunday deadline.
Raab has recognised that if the two sides fail to reach an agreement, there will be “bumps along the road”, including potential changes in food prices.
According to the foreign secretary, significant differences remain, mainly around fisheries and certain regulatory requirements, but there’s clearly scope to continue the talks. He, however, emphasised that Britain was not going to “sacrifice basic points of democratic principle” in order to get a deal.
He went on to note that irrespective of the differences, “movement needs to happen” on both issues, fishing quotas and level playing field, by Sunday. Regarding the latter, he noted, the European bloc has of late hardened its position.
During a “lively” discussion on Wednesday, Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agreed that a firm decision should be taken by Sunday concerning the future of the Brexit talks, despite “very large gaps” between the UK and the EU. Von der Leyen later took to Twitter to say that while the parties “gained a clear understanding of each others’ positions, they remain far apart”.
We had a lively & interesting discussion on the state of play on outstanding issues.
We understand each other’s positions. They remain far apart.
The teams should immediately reconvene to try to resolve these issues. We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend. pic.twitter.com/jG0Mfg35YX
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 9, 2020
Earlier in the day, Johnson addressed MPs about the prospects of post-Brexit arrangements with the EU, asserting that “a good deal is still there to be done”. The prime minister thundered that no British PM would sign up to the demands the European Union is “currently insisting on”, adding that while there is a trade deal to be done, the country would equally prosper without one.
“Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply … then they want the automatic right … to punish us and to retaliate”, he said in parliament.
While the post-Brexit trading and governance arrangements remain in limbo, despite heated talks in London, last week, the British side reportedly accused Brussels of revising their conditions at the eleventh hour, which, officials said, would certainly further threaten any potential compromise.
In light of the tight time framework still allocated for a deal to arrive – before the transition period expires on 31 December – concerns have arisen that the sides might enter the new year without an agreement.
A new accord will have to be approved by the EU’s 27 member states and European parliaments, including Britain’s by 31 December. What’s hampering the negotiations, as per the EU and a number of British officials, is the Internal Market Bill, which Johnson introduced in September. It proposes rolling back some of the commitments on state aid and customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland – something that has been deemed as violating international law.
Major Stumbling Blocks
The main sticking points yet to be resolved are fisheries – a totemic issue for the UK and France among other member states, governance, and the specifics of level-playing field conditions to guarantee fair market play.
In terms of fishing rules, the EU is striving for maximum access for its boats to continue operating in UK waters, where they currently catch about £600 million worth of fish every year. Yet, Britain insists the waters washing the country are sovereign and EU member states should negotiate fishing quotas with London annually.
The level playing field is all about rules on fair competition for billions of pounds of business, now and in the coming years. While the EU wants the UK to stick rather closely to EU rules on things like workers’ rights, the environmental regulations that companies have to follow, and state aid, Britain insists that the whole point of Brexit was to break free from European norms.
Another issue on the agenda is how the rules of the deal will be enforced in the future and what measures will be taken if one side breaks them. The EU has been rooting for powers to be granted to the bloc to retaliate against the UK violating the norms in one area, by hitting back in another – for instance, slapping tariffs or taxes where it thinks they might cripple most.
EU challenges gender stereotypes in a new awareness-raising campaign “Fight Like a Girl”
Ukraine
On December 10, 2020, the new, free from gender stereotypes online medium Fight Like a Girl was launched in Ukraine. It aims to equip young women and girls with useful tips on legal and sexual security and physical self-defense against gender-based violence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Its launch marks the beginning of a dedicated campaign that will roll out fifteen videos in social media through December 2020 and January 2021.
“Gender-based and domestic violence are human rights violations. Gender stereotypes fuel the continuous existence of this plight. Equipping young people, notably girls and young women against violence, and giving them tools to dismantle stereotypes is key to a more democratic, safer and more prosperous future. There could not be a better name for this campaign than #fightlikeagirl and the EU is happy support UN Women, UNFPA and Gender Stream as representatives of Ukrainian civil society in its implementation”, said Martin Schroeder, Head of the Local and Human Development Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
The campaign is the part of the global campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which takes place annually from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, till 10 December, Human Rights Day.
The project Fight Like a Girl launches fifteen entertaining explanatory videos that will debunk stereotypes on women and girls and teach the audience how to identify different forms of gender-based violence and understand some forms of cybercrimes that affect women and girls. Consent to sex, sexual security during COVID-19 pandemic, understanding toxic relationships will bring up and explain essential topics for girls and young women. The series of videos on self-defense, created in partnership with the National Police of Ukraine, will teach women and girls how to respond to potential attacks of an abuser and ensure safe escape.
The campaign is produced by the NGO Gender Stream, a grassroots women’s rights initiative from Dnipro, and UN Women in Ukraine. It speaks in a friendly and fun voice of a trusted peer and friend on a Instagram account @FLG_UA, and promotes the hashtags #бийсяякдівчина #fightlikeagirl.
In a series of 15 videos, the audience will hear the voices of Ukrainian influencers:
Stanislav Korolev, musician, member of the band “Yuko”;
Oleksandra Gontar, journalist of the Toronto Television YouTube project and poet;
Volodymyr Beglov, Head of the Human Rights Education Center in Lviv;
Natalia Shevchuk, Director General of the Social Film and Advertising Festival;
Olga Zhukovtsova, actress of the Women’s Quartal;
Katro Zauber, Ukrainian DJ
Vitaliy Zhadan, tactical training instructor, National Police of Ukraine.
“I hope that the project Fight like a girl will reach many women and girls, and it will empower them to change their lives. In a society where you do not feel protected, it is vital to finally try to create security for yourself (as much as possible)”, – said Oleksandra Gontar, TV host and participant of the project.
Background information:
In Ukraine and worldwide, gender-based violence is widespread and systematic, gaining even more momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost half (49%) of women in Ukraine say they have experienced sexual harassment. Under quarantine, the number of registered domestic violence cases rose to over 54%[1], and the number of calls to the National Hotline for the Prevention of Domestic Violence doubled[2].
The campaign was produced in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence” programme, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA. The videos were produced with the financial support of the European Union. Their contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
For further information, please contact Narmina Strishenets, Communication and Advocacy Analyst, UN Women Ukraine: [email protected] or +38(050) 425-79-30.
[1] National Police Statistics as of 9 months, 2020 vs 2019
[2] UNFPA, 2020
Non-communicable diseases killing more people than ever before: UN health agency
The 2019 Global Health Estimates, released on Wednesday, “clearly highlight” the need for increased attention on preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as tackling injuries, according to WHO.
“These new estimates are another reminder that we need to rapidly step up prevention, diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“They highlight the urgency of drastically improving primary health care equitably and holistically.”
Mr. Tedros also underlined the importance of strong primary health care for combatting non-communicable diseases as well as the coronavirus pandemic. People living with pre-existing health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory conditions, are at higher risk of complications and death due to COVID-19.
The study covers the years 2000 to 2019, prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The next update to the estimates will include an assessment of the direct and indirect impact of the pandemic on mortality and morbidity.
Heart disease ‘number 1 killer’
According to WHO, heart disease has remained the leading cause of death at the global level for the last 20 years, but it is now killing more people than ever before, representing 16 per cent of total deaths from all causes.
The number of deaths from heart disease increased over fourfold, from 2 million since 2000, to nearly 9 million in 2019.
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are now among the top 10 causes of death worldwide, and deaths from diabetes increased by 70 per cent globally between 2000 and 2019.
The findings also pointed to a global decline in deaths from communicable diseases, though they remain major challenge in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths from tuberculosis, for instance, reduced by about 30 per cent.
Disability on the rise
The Global Health Estimates also found that life-spans have increased over the years, with a global average of more than 73 years (in 2019) compared to nearly 67 (in 2000). But on average, only 5 of those additional years were lived in good health.
“Disability is on the rise,” WHO said, explaining that to a large extent, the diseases and health conditions causing the most deaths are also responsible for most number of healthy life-years lost.
“Injuries are another major cause of disability and death,” the UN agency added, noting that there has been a “significant rise” in road traffic injuries since 2000, with the African region worst affected.
Rise in drug use-related deaths
In the Americas, drug use emerged as a major factor in both disability and death: there was a nearly threefold increase in deaths from drug use disorders in the Americas between 2000 and 2019.
The region is also the only one for which drug use disorder is a top 10 contributor to healthy life-years lost due to premature deaths and disability.
COMMENT | Reclaiming deprived right to religion due to Covid-19
COMMENT | The right to practice and profess religion certainly has been one of the casualties caused by the Covid-19. The threat of the pandemic, which has been weathered globally for the past 12 months, has tremendously affected the universally accepted tenet of freedom of religion.
Religion, in any name and sect all over the world, has restricted its religious practices and rituals. The restrictions, although only relegated public religious practices to personal spaces, have in many ways affected the right to religion as a whole.
There is every reason why the right to religion is believed to have been undermined by the threat of Covid-19. Religious practices and rituals around the world directly contravened with the public health advice advocated in stopping the transmission of the virus.
They include public congregations in a large crowd, hand-based greetings as well as touching and kissing objects considered sacred. These practices signify the…
African leaders nix EU-AU summit as tensions simmer
Simmering institutional tensions between the EU and the African Union resulted in the last-minute cancellation of a ‘mini-summit’ between European Union and African leaders planned for Wednesday (9 December).
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current chair of the AU, called off the summit on Tuesday, and insiders to the talks say that the cancellation of the videoconference was the result of disagreements over the agenda and the format of the meeting.
No African heads of state aside from Ramaphosa were able to attend the summit. Neither was, from the EU side, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An EU official blamed “agenda issues” for the cancellation.
The meeting had been billed by the EU as “an opportunity to build further momentum towards the upcoming summit and discuss the partnership between Europe and Africa.”
However, there is frustration among African officials that the EU seems intent on driving the agenda with little consultation.
The mini-summit had been announced in October by EU Council President Charles Michel, with minimum consultation with African leaders, shortly after plans for an EU-AU summit scheduled for October were abandoned because of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and disagreements over the agenda.
The European Commission’s strategy paper published in March promised to “build a more prosperous, more peaceful and more sustainable future for all”, around five proposed partnerships on energy, digitalisation, inward investment, peace and migration. The African Union is yet to publish its own position paper on its hopes from the partnership agenda.
“The EU needs to rethink its approach to the consultation process. The cancellation reflects the need to take the African side seriously,” a senior official involved in the talks told EURACTIV.
Having started this year with hopes of agreeing a ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and Africa by the end 2020, little progress has been made, in part because the priorities of both continents have been focused on combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cancellation was greeted with dismay by development NGOs.
“The AU’s last-minute cancellation of today’s EU-AU leaders meeting sends a worrying signal of their lack of confidence in the EU’s commitment to a stronger partnership,” said Brandon Locke, policy and advocacy manager at The ONE Campaign.
“The EU’s partnership with Africa needs to move past a “donor-recipient” relationship to an alliance on equal footing, where Europe recognizes Africa’s interests and vision for its own future,” added Locke, who said the EU “needs to deliver with concrete commitments to rebalance the economic partnership between the two continents”.
Negotiators from the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific community signed off on a 20-year partnership deal to succeed the Cotonou Agreement last Thursday night (3 December) after nearly three years of difficult talks.
Although the new pact includes a new regional protocol between the EU and sub-Saharan Africa, and a new tougher text on migrant re-admission and return, it left trade relations unchanged and based on the controversial economic partnership agreements, widely criticised for perpetuating unbalanced trade relations between the EU and African countries.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Markets in Asia-Pacific Trade Lower Amid Uncertainty Over UK-EU Trade Deal and US Relief Bill
Asia-Pacific markets reacted negatively to the unpromising Brexit trade deal perspective as well as to the indeterminate second US coronavirus relief bill in Thursday morning trade, according to CNBC News.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix were lower 0.39 percent and 0.17 percent respectively after the market opened. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 1.11 percent. Australian benchmark ASX 200 dropped 0.56 percent while its sections all finished in the red. The energy subindex was down 1.05 percent, as oil prices have declined.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street, stocks closed negatively on Wednesday evening, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading losses with a nearly 2 percent drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street’s broadest stocks gauge, finished down 0.4 percent to close at 30,069, after a record high at 30,320. The S&P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, slid 0.8 percent to finish at 3,673, after setting an all-time high of 3,712 earlier.
On Wednesday, British PM Boris Johnson held a further round of negotiations with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, where both of them agreed that a firm decision should be made by Sunday about the future of the talks. At the moment, trade with Northern Ireland and the level of access to British fishing grounds given to EU vessels are the most crucial issues in talks. The UK and the European Union are supposed to come to an agreement before the Brexit transition period expires on 31 December, as Boris Johnson refused to prolong it last year.
On Capitol Hill, debates over the second financial aid continue as the coronavirus-related crisis is striking the country. Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked over key provisions of the recently introduced $908 billion relief bill. The package has to be approved by 11 December, but Congress has requested another week to negotiate the bill, with a new deadline set for 18 December.
