BRUSSELS: The European Union on Wednesday committed to be “creative” in the final stages of the Brexit trade negotiations but warned that whatever deal emerges, the United Kingdom will be reduced to “just a valued partner” far removed from its former membership status.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said “genuine progress” had been made on several issues “with an outline of a final text”, little more than a month before Britain’s transition period as a former EU member runs out.
And she said that on the divisive issues of fisheries, governance of any deal and the standards the UK must meet to export into the EU, the bloc is “ready to be creative, but we are not ready to put into question the integrity of the single market, the main safeguard for European prosperity and wealth”.
In the EU single market, goods and services can freely flow from one of the 27 member states to another without barriers like customs or checks, and it is seen as a cornerstone of the EU. With Britain deciding to walk out, von der Leyen insisted it should feel the cold.
“One thing is clear. Whatever the outcome, there has to be and there will be a clear difference between being a full member of the union and being just a valued partner,” she told legislators at the European Parliament.
The Bishops of Eritrea have expressed their deep sadness over the conflict between Ethiopia’s federal government and the regional government of Tigray state. They are appealing for peace and a cessation of the destructive hostilities.
Eritrea is Ethiopia’s northern neighbour bordering the Tigray region. The countries have a long and troubled history of conflict with war breaking out between the nations in 1998 over a complex territorial, economic and political dispute that left tens of thousands of people dead. Despite the Algiers peace agreement in December 2000 ending the border conflict, Ethiopia and Eritrea remained in a state of armed standoff for nearly 18 years.
Meanwhile observers report an escalating regional tension as Tigray Peoples Liberation Front leaders in recent months have increasingly accused Eritrea of meddling in Ethiopia’s domestic affairs.
What’s more, there are currently four refugee camps in northern Ethiopia sheltering nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees. Humanitarian agencies, who have asked for the opening of humanitarian corridors, are expressing fears the refugees may be facing threats of violence, harassment and food shortages amid conflict in the Tigray region
War, the Eritrean Bishops said in a recent statement, “is anti-life and anti-development…it kills, maims, destroys, displaces and sows lasting grievances and hatred among people,” and they added, it also destroys the four pillars of peace: truth, justice, love and freedom/liberty.
Once a war starts, continued the Bishops, “no one knows when and where it ends,” they said, noting that “all the parties are losers and there is no winner.” This, according to the Bishops, is why Pope Saint John Paul II said: “war does not have any meaningful value, and is always unjust.”
The Bishops further pointed out that the consequences of war are a “self-evident truth to the world” – especially to the peoples in the Horn of Africa where, nonetheless, conflicts sadly persist unabated.
Pillars of peace
Outlining the pillars of peace as truth, justice, love and freedom, the Bishops stressed their importance to the situation.
Truth, they pointed out, assures individual rights, safeguards the common good and protects the rights of others; Justice for its part, “guarantees the rights of others, incentivizing progress to build peace.”
At the same time, Love instills empathy for the needs of others and creates reciprocity to build peace through “intellectual and spiritual participation in dignity.” Freedom allows people to assume their obligation in contributing to the development of peace.
Peace and truth connected
To achieve Peace, there must be respect for human dignity and human rights, the Eritrean Bishops affirmed.
In this regard, peace and truth become connected through the transmission of true and correct information, a transparent democratic process that guarantees the participation of all citizens, access to equal justice for all before the law, and a readiness to resolve conflicts through constructive, peaceful means.
The Eritrean Bishops, therefore, call for an end to the hostilities and appeal that both sides resolve the conflict through peaceful dialogue instead of “all the inflammatory words and propaganda that are fanning the fire.”
Pope’s appeal for peace
Pope Francis, during the Angelus on 8 November appealed for peace in the troubled Tigray region. He said that he “is following with concern” the news regarding the escalation of violence in Ethiopia and appealed to authorities to “reject the temptation of armed conflict.”
The Pope also invited all Ethiopians to pray for the nation and encouraged “fraternal respect for dialogue and the peaceful resolution of discord.”
Ethiopia’s conflict
Ethiopia’s northern state of Tigray is run by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The group, once the dominant ruling coalition in the East African country, began to lose its hold on power after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. The Prime Minister dissolved the ruling coalition and merged its regional parties into one single party, sparking allegations of unfair treatment.
Tensions escalated in August after the Abiy Ahmed-led government rescheduled national elections till next year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tigray leaders, alleging that the postponement was the Prime Minister’s strategy to prolong his stay in office, organized their own elections in September, with over 2 million people going to the polls.
The Ethiopian government, in retaliation, placed sanctions on the Tigray state, setting into motion a series of recriminations between the state and federal governments.
On 4 November, Abiy announced a military offensive against Tigray in response to an alleged attack on a military base in Mekelle. Several hundred have been killed in the violent conflict and over 200,000 Ethiopians have fled for their lives into neighboring Sudan.
The worst of the second wave of the coronavirus is over: Those were the words of French President Emmanuel Macon as he gave a televised address to the nation on Tuesday evening.
But he also warned, “We must do everything to avoid a third lockdown.” With that in mind, he said restaurants, cafes and bars would stay shut until Jan. 20 to avoid triggering a third wave.
This gradual easing of curbs means that from Saturday, November 28, shops will re-open following a month long lockdown imposed on Oct 30.
In mid-December, the lockdown will be lifted if the number of new cases has fallen to around 5,000 a day, and people will be free to travel across the country to see family and friends over the Christmas period. Theatres and cinemas will also be allowed to open their doors again.
France registered over 9,000 cases on Tuesday, and crossed the 50,000 deaths milestone.
Church response
However, not everyone is happy with the new arrangements. The French Bishops’ Conference said in a statement the announcement of a resumption of public ceremonies with a maximum of 30 people was both “disappointing and surprising.”
The statement went on to say that the matter was discussed in a phone call between the French President and the President of the Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort.
The Archbishop tweeted on Tuesday evening that Catholic voices were not heard and the Conference was asking that the measure be revised.
In an updated statement on Wednesday the Bishops said, “It appears that a realistic, yet strict, measure will be defined by Thursday morning for implementation in two stages: Saturday 28 November and then after the reassessment of 15 December.” “It is in this perspective that the EFC (French Episcopal Conference) continues its dialogue with the offices of the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior”.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to hold a press briefing Thursday morning to detail Emmanuel Macron‘s announcement concerning the gradual lifting of restrictions.
So, for the time being, while the resumption of public worship in France is now a certainty, the way it is implemented continues to be subject to adjustments.
Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) are WHO-classified teams of health-care professionals who can be deployed to provide immediate assistance to countries and territories during natural disasters, outbreaks and emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for EMTs surged across different regions, and WHO facilitated the transfer of knowledge and practices in the spirit of solidarity.
In the WHO European Region, 8 EMTs have responded to requests for assistance from 6 different countries to help with the COVID-19 response in 2020. The Region has 50% of global EMT capacity, with 15 WHO-classified teams and more than 30 others under mentorship, ready to be deployed in the coming years.
Dr Oleg Storozhenko, Partnerships Officer at WHO/Europe, highlights a new twinning programme that encourages experienced EMTs to partner with interested Member States and nongovernmental organizations to help them strengthen national emergency response capacities.
“During COVID-19, we have seen how EMT response activities can inspire governments across the WHO European Region and beyond to provide a stronger national medical response to emergency situations through improving skill exchange with local health-care workers and establishing local EMT capacities,” he notes.
Georgia and Germany were the first to collaborate in this way. Georgia benefitted from German EMT expertise to train its own national team, which then became heavily involved in the country’s COVID-19 response. Azerbaijan and Turkey are now adopting the same formula. Demand for homegrown EMTs has increased during the pandemic, with support from national governments or nongovernmental organizations.
Dr Harald Veen, a mentor for the WHO EMT initiative, says the focus is on building national teams that can respond rapidly in a crisis. “The health professionals in these teams used to be focused on packing up to leave for another country, but with COVID-19 everything changed, and there was an immediate need for their expertise at a national level.”
Alongside the twinning programme, a mentorship scheme enables a greater number of teams to quickly reach the required standards for WHO classification and subsequent deployment. The WHO scheme encourages established EMTs to offer advice and support to newer, yet-to-be-classified teams. There are currently 65 teams under mentorship globally, and a further 28 teams have declared an interest in starting the process.
Mentorship: providing advice and hope
Team leader Dr Wojtek Wilk describes how mentors from Spain helped his EMT from Poland develop their skills related to issues of water supply, water treatment and sewerage. Teams must demonstrate competence outside their specialist areas and, he says, “mentorship is therefore a major part of the global classification process. A mentor provides advice and hope and is of immense help in overcoming obstacles.”
After deployments to Ethiopia, Italy, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Dr Wilk’s team of professionals returned to Poland to help respond to a rise in COVID-19 cases on home soil. They also mentor other nascent EMTs to achieve WHO certification.
As a mentor and technical adviser to the WHO Secretariat, the body responsible for making sure that each EMT reaches an agreed minimum standard, Dr Veen oversees the progress of each team towards this goal. “We push them to write down their procedures so that these are clear and can be followed by any new team members,” he explains, adding that he is proud to be promoting WHO’s high standards. “Everything should be written out succinctly so that EMTs are able to prevent harm, work in the most efficient way for patients and be humanitarian role models.”
A new role for EMTs
During the COVID-19 pandemic, EMTs have adapted to provide on-the-job COVID-19 training and support to ministries of health. They aim at strengthening triage and hospital referral procedures and improving infection prevention and control measures, including proper patient flow and treatment protocols for COVID-19 patients.
Dr Wilk explains that this reflects a shift in the way EMTs operate. For example, professionals with expertise in treating patients directly in field hospitals and intensive care units and dealing with trauma and surgical interventions have found themselves needing to employ a different range of skills during the pandemic. The training and capacity-building component of their work has come to the fore during this time.
“Strengthening preparedness for the COVID-19 response is a new and quite unexpected role for the EMTs,” he observes. “Not all doctors are skilled trainers or have the necessary interpersonal skills to be effective in this role. However, training and knowledge-sharing are both critical as EMTs are only present in any country for a finite period of time, while the COVID-19 pandemic is probably set to last.”
Assistance and solidarity
During final certification, an independent WHO team along with peers from other EMTs check that the required standards have been reached. Mentors undertake regular phone calls, video meetings, visits and protocol checks to keep teams motivated in difficult circumstances, interspersed with reminders to eat and rest well.
Dr Veen highlights the long-term benefits of providing peer support and training to EMTs. As well as being cost-effective, he says that swapping expertise gives EMTs “an immense opportunity to improve humanitarian assistance”, enabling governments to select the types of teams best suited to respond to a particular set of circumstances.
The message of solidarity is strong, agrees Dr Wilk, who also notes that EMTs are on the frontline of the global response to COVID-19. “I was asked recently if there is fear associated with working in a COVID-19 hospital,” he muses. “The only answer I could think of was, ‘there is fear, of course, but somebody has to do it’. The world needs teams that can deploy to wherever there is a need, if the situation in their home country permits. This is assistance, but also solidarity.”
At the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis turned his gaze to the prayer life of the early Church, as he continued his catechesis on prayer.
“The Church’s first steps in the world were interspersed with prayer,” the Pope said. The writings of the New Testament, and especially the Acts of the Apostles, give us “the image of an active Church on the move, yet which gathered in prayer finds the basis and impulse for missionary action.”
The Holy Father pointed out four essential characteristics of ecclesial life, drawn from St Luke’s account in the book of Acts: “listening to the Apostle’s teaching” which involves preaching and catechesis; the continual quest for fraternal communion; the “breaking of the bread,” the Eucharist, which is the Sacrament of Jesus’ presence among us; and prayer, “which is the space of dialogue with the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit.”
Anything that arises outside of those “coordinates,” the Pope warned, “is deprived of a foundation… deprived of ecclesiality.” When these four characteristics are present, however, it is a guarantee of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis said that reading the Acts of the Apostles, “we then discover what a powerful driving force of evangelization the prayer gatherings can be.” In prayer, he explained, we experience Christ’s presence among us “and are touched by the Spirit.”
Making Jesus present
The Pope quotes the Catechism: “The Holy Spirit … keeps the memory of Christ alive in his Church at prayer, also leads her toward the fullness of truth and inspires new formulations expressing the unfathomable mystery of Christ at work in his Church’s life, sacraments, and mission.” This, Pope Francis explained, “is the Spirit’s work in the Church: making us remember Jesus.”
He insisted, however, that this is not simply a question of recalling facts. Instead, “Christians, walking on the paths of mission, remember Jesus while they make Him present once more; and from Him, from His Spirit, they receive the ‘push’ to go, to proclaim, to serve.”
Love, the mystical root
Prayer, the Pope said, “immerses” Christians in God’s love for each and every person and provides the missionary impulse to preach the Gospel to every human person. “God is God for everyone,” the Pope said, “and in Jesus every wall of separation has definitively crumbled.”
The exchange of love – God’s love for us, and the love He asks in return – is “the mystical root of the believer’s entire life,” Pope Francis said. And, both for the early Christians and for Christians today, prayer enables us to live that experience. Through prayer, the Pope continued, every Christian can make his own the words of St Paul: “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Pope Francis said it is “only in the silence of adoration” that “we experience the full truth of these words… And this prayer is the living flame of the Spirit that gives strength to witness and mission.”
Wednesday, 25 November, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which seeks to raise awareness of what the UN calls a “shadow pandemic”.
The Spanish NGO Manos Unidas (“Hands United”) joined its voice to those of many others to decry the situation in which countless women find themselves.
“Societies cannot remain indifferent to abuse and violence,” according to Ricardo Loy, the Secretary General of the Catholic organization. “We cannot abide that 30% of the world’s women and girls live in fear of violence, of speaking out, or of the reactions of those around them… And all this in the face of widespread apathy from most of society.”
According to the World Health Organization, around one third of all women in a relationship have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by their partner.
UN Women adds that domestic violence shot up by 30% in many countries during widespread lockdowns earlier this year put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, a recent study says data from 30 countries indicates that only 1% of abused women have ever sought professional help.
Back in 2013, the WHO called violence against women “a global health problem of epidemic proportions.”
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Excluded and invisible
Mr. Loy said Manos Unidas finds itself working on various fronts in developing nations because violence is not limited to the physical kind nor only to the household.
Education carried out by the NGO, he pointed out, “aims to deal with those religious or cultural customs that physically harm women, or make them invisible and exclude them.”
Raising awareness
One Manos Unidas partner offered an example from a project in Sierra Leone, where women and girls are subdued into silence and economic privation, since violence is widespread.
Fr. Peter Konteh, director of Caritas Freetown, said they are so often subjected to rape that the Prime Minister declared the situation a national emergency in 2018. “He even set up a police unit to deal with rape cases, especially against children.”
Killing a culture of silence
Thanks to the help of Manos Unidas, Fr. Konteh said the local Caritas outfit was able to make inroads in combatting the culture of silence, which kept victims from going to the authorities.
Now, he noted, “women, girls, and families are willing to talk openly about abuse, and the guilty parties are brought to justice.”
Fr. Konteh said the projects biggest success was making many people in Sierra Leone aware of the horrors of violence against women.
“One great victory,” he said, “is knowing that the project is warning ‘potential abusers’ and thus protecting women and girls from further abuse.”
The Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China is bearing fruit. A new bishop, the third since the Agreement was signed in September 2018, was appointed in communion with the Successor of Peter and ordained. The news was confirmed by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni.
“I can confirm that the Reverend Thomas Chen Tianhao is the third bishop appointed and ordained within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of bishops,” he said, in response to questions by journalists.
Bruni also added that “certainly other episcopal consecrations are expected in the future because various processes for new episcopal appointments are underway.”
Upon its expiration date at the end of September, the Provisional Agreement was extended for two more years. It does not directly concern diplomatic relations between the Holy See and China, nor the legal status of the Chinese Catholic Church or relations between the clergy and the authorities of the country. The Provisional Agreement concerns exclusively the process of nomination of bishops: an essential issue for the life of the Church and for the communion of the pastors of the Chinese Catholic Church with the Bishop of Rome and the bishops of the world.
The objective of the Provisional Agreement has always been genuinely pastoral: its purpose is to allow the Catholic faithful to have bishops who are in full communion with the Successor of Peter and at the same time are recognized by the authorities of the People’s Republic of China.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke on the phone on Tuesday evening in a bid to coordinate action in view of the European Council meeting in December and UN special envoy Jane Hall Lute’s visit to the divided island on November 30.
An official statement on Wednesday said Anastasiades and Mitsotakis spoke about the Cyprus problem and efforts for the resumption of the UN-brokered talks and the possibility of a five plus one conference as well as the ongoing Turkish provocations in the region.
The Council meeting is scheduled for December 10-11 and Turkey-EU relations will be assessed by the EU leaders.
Lute, UNSG`s envoy for the Cyprus problem on Tuesday will hold separate meetings in Nicosia with the President Anastasiades and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.
After her meetings in Cyprus, Lute is expected to visit Athens to hold meetings with the Greek government.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
The latest UN backed round of talks took place in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana but failed to yield any results.
NEW DELHI: Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Ryszard Czarnecki and Fulvio Martusciello, have pulled up Pakistan for not yet having brought to justice those who orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai terrorists’ attacks.
Polish MEP Czarnecki and Italian MEP Martusciello, in a letter to Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, stated, “On 26 November 2008, an extremist terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, based in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the Mumbai bombings in which 166 innocent people were murdered, nine attackers killed, and more than 300 individuals sustained injuries. Subsequent documented evidence from United States intelligence reports, from India’s intelligence services including DNA, photographs and identification of the origins of the attackers; and an admission by Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s of the country’s involvement in the crimes; highlight the engagement of accomplishes in Pakistan. However, to date, the senior coordinators and promoters who orchestrated the attacks remain at large.”
The MEPs demanded it was “essential that justice is served on those who have carried out, instructed or supported such terrorist activities. It is equally important that leaders of countries publicly condemn these acts of violence and proceed to ensure justice is done for the victims, by apprehending and sentencing the perpetrators”.
The MEPs further stated in their letter, “Terrorism is the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, often in pursuit of political or ideological aims. European politicians, we are committed to fighting against terrorism and extremist violence. We all have a responsibility to condemn terrorism and bring to justice those who perpetrate such actions.”
Czarnecki and Martusciello also asked Imran to inform “action taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba, the extremist Islamist terrorist organisation, based in Pakistan, known to have carried out the multiple shooting and bombing attacks that happened in Mumbai in 2008?”. They further asked, “what action has, and is, Pakistan taking against terrorist groups operating within the country in general?”
Meanwhile French Member of the European Parliament Thierry Mariani, and Gianna Gancia, Italian Member of the European Parliament, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to express their support for India’s respect for democratic constitutional responsibility and to reinforce their backing for a common goal to address extremism and terrorism.
“As the Republic of India, the largest democracy in the world, celebrates Samvidhan Divas on the 26 November 2020, we send our congratulations to the country for maintaining peace, democratic values and freedoms and for upholding the Constitution of India established in 1949,” the letter read.
The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) wrote India’s Republic was “steeped in history and culture. With its diversity of states, cultures and religions, India is a beacon for the democratic and free world.”
Further praising India, they highlighted that India “must be recognised for her dedication towards advocating and encouraging the principles of freedoms and rights under its constitution, one which treats all citizens equally.” India was also honoured for its principles of non-violence, when it was acknowledged that it had always maintained peace, in the country and the region, and had retained its independence through principles of non-alignment.
.“We send our condolences on this somber occasion and recognise the families and the individuals of the army and emergency services who were forced to witness the horrors resulting from these attacks. Europe mourns with you as we are also facing increased attacks from fundamentalists and extremists at this time.”
“Whilst Pakistan has tried to deny its links with terrorist organisations the evidence, including United States intelligence reports, the origin of the attackers and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s admission of the country’s involvement, all demonstrate, without doubt, that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan remains a global threat”, stated Mariani and Gancia.
The MEPs stated that “as parliamentarians we have called for the European Union to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and on individuals; terrorists, and those supporting and promoting terrorist activities; and to condemn state sponsored terrorism. Addressing visa and passport fraud, as well as illegal migration are challenges that both India and the European countries face in preventing terrorism emanating from third countries.”
