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Millions ‘on the edge’ in DR Congo, now in even greater danger of tipping over: WFP

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Millions ‘on the edge’ in DR Congo, now in even greater danger of tipping over: WFP

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), latest national data shows that about four in ten people in the DRC are food insecure, with some 15.6 million suffering “crisis” or “emergency” levels of hunger.

“So many Congolese are on the edge, and in even greater danger now of being tipped over the edge”, said Claude Jibidar, the head of WFP operations in the country.

“The world just can’t let that happen, worried though it understandably is about the huge toll COVID-19 is taking on lives and livelihoods elsewhere.”

Crisis in every direction

Outbreaks of diseases, violence, and fears of a poor harvest, are worsening an already alarming situation.

Malnutrition is particularly pervasive in the east of the country, where decades of brutal conflict has forced millions from their homes – many of them numerous times. In the first half of 2020, almost a million people were uprooted from their homes due to new violence.

Displaced persons across the DRC – numbering more than five million – live in makeshift camps and urban areas with poor sanitation and healthcare, making them especially susceptible to COVID-19.

Adding to this are killer diseases, malaria and cholera, exacerbating the hunger challenge. A new large-scale outbreak of measles in the central Kasai region has significantly increased the risk of fatalities among malnourished children.

The dire health situation is compounded by successive outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). By the time the DRC’s tenth and biggest Ebola epidemic ended in June, having claimed almost 2,300 lives in the east over two years, the eleventh had erupted in the northwest, and continues to spread.

Resources urgently needed

Against this bleak picture, UN agencies, including the WFP have been working to provide life-saving assistance across the nation.

On its part, WFP need another $172 million to be able to fully implement its emergency operation in the country over the next six months. With enough resources, it aims to reach 8.6 million people this year– including almost a million of those hit hardest by the pandemic – up from a record 6.9 million reached in 2019.

However, without the necessary funding, food rations and cash assistance will have to be cut, then the number of people being helped, warned the UN agency.

“Interventions to treat and prevent acute malnutrition – which afflicts 3.4 million Congolese children – are at immediate risk”, it said.

 SEE MORE: What WFP is doing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Interception, no solution to address migrants crossing English Channel

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officialinstitutions
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Interception, no solution to address migrants crossing English Channel

Instead, governments in Europe and elsewhere should increase search and rescue efforts, and combat human smuggling and trafficking rings – key drivers of such dangerous journeys, the Office of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged in a joint news release on Wednesday.

Solutions can be found for those in need of protection through the asylum system, and complementary mechanisms for those in need of other forms of protection such as victims of trafficking and unaccompanied children, they added.

Saving lives, first priority

Pascale Moreau, UNHCR Director for Europe, highlighted that undocumented attempts to cross the English Channel, represent a challenge for all States in the region, and require practical solutions and cooperation.

“Our collective response should be comprehensive and complementary – from saving lives to combating smuggling rings, expanding legal options, and ensuring that all those who are in need of protection can effectively access it”, she said.

Along with this, countries should work together to ensure that people who have grounds for regular entry, including to reunite with their families, can do so quickly and effectively without having to resort to such a dangerous journey.

Protect the most vulnerable

In the same vein, Ola Henrikson, Director of the IOM Regional Office in Brussels, underscored the importance of balanced and proportionate border cooperation, as part of a larger, comprehensive response.

“The immediate concern is the dangers the crossings present particularly to the most vulnerable, including many children”, she said.

In the wake of the UK’s departure from the European Union, viable mechanisms need to continue to ensure that people – especially unaccompanied children – in various EU countries who have family or other important links to the UK can continue to travel or transfer safely, added the UN agencies.

In addition to being exposed to criminal smugglers and traffickers, unaccompanied minors and children often have no protection – even from people traveling with them – leaving them at risk of violence and exploitation.

EIOPA publishes bi-weekly information for Relevant Risk Free Interest Rate Term Structures and Symmetric Adjustment to Equity

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officialinstitutions
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EIOPA publishes bi-weekly information for Relevant Risk Free Interest Rate Term Structures and Symmetric Adjustment to Equity

Due to COVID-19 outbreak, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority is carrying out extraordinary  calculations every two weeks to monitor the evolution of the relevant risk-free interest rate term structures (RFR) and the symmetric adjustment to equity risk (EDA). EIOPA is publishing this information in order to support insurance and reinsurance undertakings in the monitoring of their solvency and financial position. 

The information will be published on specific area of the website created for this purpose both for RFR and EDA named “Extraordinary updates”.

Download the technical information with reference to 11 August 2020 for:

–    Risk free interest rate term structures (RFR), at the bottom of the page, under Extraordinary RFR updates
–    Symmetric Adjustment to Equity Risk (EDA), at the bottom of the page, under Extraordinary Symmetric Adjustment updates

RFR information has been calculated applying the content of the Technical Documentation published on 1 October 2019 and based on RFR coding released on 8 October 2019

All the documents are available on on RFR and EDA specific areas on EIOPA’s website. In particular, the updated version of the source code can be accessed under Related links in the RFR area.

Indonesia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the 15th anniversary of the signature of the Helsinki Peace Agreement for Aceh

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European External Action Service
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Indonesia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the 15th anniversary of the signature of the Helsinki Peace Agreement for Aceh

15 August 2020 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. The peace agreement brought an end to 30 years of conflict. Aceh’s example serves as an inspiration of how, through negotiations and strong political will, peace can be achieved even in the most dire of circumstances.

The European Union is proud to have contributed to the peace process, mediated by former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, through the Aceh Monitoring Mission deployed under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, jointly with five member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines and Singapore- as well as Norway and Switzerland. The European Union and its Member States have also significantly contributed to Aceh’s reconstruction. We remain committed to Aceh’s socio-economic development and to the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding. The European Union reiterates its intention to further develop partnerships, together with ASEAN and its member countries, aimed at contributing to peace and security in the region.

China Literature Loses Big During the Pandemic

By
Juan Sanchez Gil
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China Literature Loses Big During the Pandemic

China Literature, China’s top online publishing and bookselling platform, lost $465 million in the first six months of the year, reversing a $55 million profit from the first six months of 2019. The loss came despite a 10% hike in revenue, to $461 million. The company is owned by Tencent, which in 2018 led a $51 million funding round for Wattpad, the Canadian social writing platform. China Literature attributes a large proportion of this year’s loss to mismanagement of their acquisition of New Classics Media, a film and television production company it acquired in 2018 for $2.2 billion.

Last year, China Literature also encountered challenges when the Chinese government accused affiliated companies of publishing salacious material. China Literature’s stock price plummeted and it’s valuation was cut by nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars. It has since recovered somewhat, but shares were down on the latest earnings release.

Company executives have admitted that China LIterature’s business model may be broken. The firm has long relied on a model in which readers make micro-payments to read on the site, as well as rights sales for print publishing, and TV and film adaptations. The Covid-19 crisis slowed IP sales dramatically in the first six months of the year, with revenue down 41.5% and physical book sales and affiliated revenue dropped more than 50%

In addition, a new free-to-read app introduced last year proved unpopular and proposed changes to the way writers are compensated sparked a backlash among the site’s authors.

“The first half of 2020 presented tremendous challenges for China Literature,” said Cheng Wu, CEO of China Literature in a statement. “The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and a complex and changing macro-environment had a negative impact on our business. The Company recorded a loss for the first time in many years. The disappointing results made us realize that the lack of resilience of our underlying business model and our structural issues that have piled up over the recent years. We will take actions to actively deal with these challenges and have already quickly responded to address some of the most urgent issues affecting the cornerstones of our business.”

In a rare expression of candor for a Chinese business executive, Cheng Wu, continued, “Going forward, we will focus on upgrading our content, platform and ecosystem to unlock the core values of the Company and to achieve a turnaround. In the long run, we are prepared to adopt a new culture and creative ideas from a more strategic and multi-dimensional perspective. We will also work with our strategic partners including Tencent to develop the industry together, with a more open and positive attitude, and invest in our future with greater courage and patience.”

One possible correction may involve putting more effort into building it’s English-language presence: China Literature launched an English-language site, Webnovel, several years ago, and postings to self-publishing forums indicate the company has been actively recruiting more English-language writers to the site in recent months and the company launched a $10,000 writing contest in June.

German church leads crowd funding to buy vessel to aid stranded Mediterranean migrants

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officialinstitutions
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German church leads crowd funding to buy vessel to aid stranded Mediterranean migrants
(Photo: Sea-Watch.org)Sea-Watch 4

Germany’s main Protestant church led a crowdfunding effort that purchased the rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 that is ready for work in the Mediterranean Sea to help migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

The Evangelical Church (EKD) initiated the effort by United4Rescue, a broad alliance to support civilian sea rescue.

“We connect all social organizations and groups that do not want to stand idly by the thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean,” says United4Rescue. “Through donation campaigns, we support rescue organizations that act in a humanitarian manner where politics fails.”

The crew on board the “Sea-Watch 4” has spent the past few weeks converting the old research vessel into a sea rescue vessel, the German news agency epd reported.

Aboard is a protection area with 24 beds for women and children along with a hospital ward.

The news agency reported that recent sea tests have shown that all is ship shape aboard the vessel.

When the crew has passed its mandatory quarantine it can start its work.

soon when the crew has passed their mandatory quarantine. Due to the corona pandemic and the lockdown in Spain, the first mission was delayed almost four months.

Sea-Watch 4 is to set sail from the Spanish Burriana in the the coming day of August, less than a year after a petition was published by the 12th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany, the WCC reported.

The petition asked the church council to continue to campaign for sea rescue, communal reception, safe escape routes, fair asylum procedures and legal migration opportunities.

“We ask for God’s blessing on the crew of Sea-Watch 4 and on their important mission. May each of us, too, become a vessel of hope and instruments of peace for our neighbors,” said Rev. Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

Work to convert the old research vessel into a sea rescue ship is almost complete and the crew is currently undergoing training and drills.

They will soon set out on their first mission.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in Spain, the mission was delayed almost four months.

Since the end of all state-sponsored rescue operations, only private ships have been sailing in the Mediterranean to rescue people who have fled from distress at sea.

It is estimated that around 400 people have drowned in the Mediterranean in 2020.

“One does not let any single human drown, end of discussion,” said Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chairperson of the Evangelical Church in Germany, during the ceremony that launched the mission in February, in the city of Kiel.

The fundraising efforts that enabled Sea-Watch 4 to prepare to operate started in December, with a campaign of the alliance called “United4Rescue” named #WirschickeneinSchiff (“We send a ship”).

The coalition initiated has more than 500 supporting organizations, ranging from congregations and student groups to diaconal agencies as well as secular partners.

In January, the alliance succeeded in auctioning the former research ship “Poseidon” at a cost of 1.3 million euros, including 1.1 million euros donated by United4Rescue.

Balkans’ fact-checkers join Facebook against disinformation

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Guest Author
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Four Western Balkans’ fact-checking organisations join Facebook’s platform against disinformation

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, related misleading health information, consumer fraud, cybercrime and targeted disinformation campaigns have posed several potential risks to the citizens, their health and their trust in health authorities. As High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell stated “the coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive infodemic.”

This was the case in the Western Balkans as well which kept the region’s fact-checkers busy debunking fake news, exposing disinformation trends, and contributing to media literacy in particular among younger generations.

Due to similarity of the region’s languages, disinformation does not stop at borders and requires close collaboration between the regions’ fact-checkers. That collaboration has intensified during COVID-19 crisis. For instance, the members of the South-East Europe fact-checking network SEE Check – composed of some Western Balkans and EU member states fact-checking organisations – stepped up their collaboration. They exchanged knowledge and practices at the peak of the crisis, proving their key role in building resilience to disinformation in local communities and in that way strengthening democracy.

Regional organisations achieved the highest international standards in fact-checking. They relied on already existing regional fact-checking networks, linked up with partners in the EU and proved to make a highly valuable contribution in the fight against infodemic. A visible recognition of their work is the fact that four organisations from the region – Raskrinkavanje.ba, Raskrinkavanje.me, Metamorphosis Foundation and Truthmeter, and Istinomer – joined the third-party fact-checking program, part of the Facebook’s strategy against disinformation.

Facebook’s Fact-Checking Programme

The work of four Western Balkans organisations continues within Facebook’s Fact-Checking Programme, which currently includes 70 independent fact-checking organisations, working in more than 50 languages around the world with the aim to fight the spread of false news on Facebook and Instagram. All partners are certified through the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network.

When fact-checkers rate an article as false, Facebook (FB) shows it lower in News Feed, reducing future views by over 80% on average. In practice, FB demotes links rated false and provides more context on the social media. When fact checkers rate the content as false, FB reduces its distribution in News Feed and guide people who try to share it on further context and information available on the subject. FB also notifies people who shared it earlier and shows the fact-checker’s reference article in Related Articles immediately below the false story in News Feed. FB claims also taking action against repeat offenders by reducing the overall distribution of the Page or website and by cutting off their ability to make money or advertising on FB.

The Western Balkans fact-checking organisations accepted to the FB Third-Party Program will work in cooperation with Agence France-Presse (AFP).

More information about the Western Balkans fact-checking organisations partnering with Facebook

Raskrinkavanje.ba – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Raskrinkavanje.me (Centre for Democratic Transition) – Montenegro

Metamorphosis Foundation and Truthmeter – North Macedonia

Istinomer (Centre for research transparency and accountability) – Serbia

Revised COVID-19 case definitions

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Newsdesk
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Revised COVID-19 case definitions

WHO has published revised interim guidance on public health surveillance for COVID-19 cases. This document includes revision of suspected and probable case definitions to integrate increased knowledge on the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 signs and symptoms.

WHO has published revised interim guidance on public health surveillance for COVID-19 cases. This document provides guidance to Member States on the implementation of surveillance for COVID-19 and the reporting requirements for WHO.

What is new in this revised version:

  • revision of suspected and probable case definitions to integrate increased knowledge on the clinical spectrum of COVID19 signs and symptoms;
  • updated approaches to surveillance, including environmental and serological surveillance for SARS-CoV-2;
  • revision of variables included in weekly surveillance to fit with new case definitions and surveillance objectives (that is, inclusion of probable cases, health-care worker cases and updated age groups for reporting cases and deaths);
  • information on the importance of the collection of metadata for analysis and interpretation of surveillance data;
  • recommendations for ending case-based reporting for global surveillance and replacing it with aggregate reporting.

Human Rights Without Frontiers condemns the death penalty of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu on blasphemy charges

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Newsdesk
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HRWF (13.08.2020) – Human Rights Without Frontiers HRWF) condemns the death sentence by hanging issued by a Nigerian Sharia court in Kano against a 22-year-old singer for allegedly insulting the Prophet in a song that he wrote and circulated on WhatsApp.

“Blasphemy laws are inconsistent with freedom of expression, including on religious issues or about religious figues,” HRWF director declared. “They should be repealed and the sentence imposed on the singer should be overturned.”

Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a Muslim musician, is not well-known in northern Nigeria. His songs were not popular outside his Tijaniya Sufi group of North African origin.

The singer had gone into hiding after he composed the song as protesters had burnt down his family home and gathered outside the headquarters of the Islamic police, known as the Hisbah, demanding action against him.

The leader of the protesters that called for the musician’s arrest in March, Idris Ibrahim, told the BBC that the judgement will serve as a warning to others “contemplating toeing Yahaya’s path”.

Sharif-Aminu can appeal the verdict.

Only one of the death sentences passed by Nigeria’s Sharia courts has been carried out since they were reintroduced in 1999.

Measles and rubella elimination: verification process continues amid COVID-19 pandemic

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Newsdesk
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Revised COVID-19 case definitions

Public health systems and independent national verification committees in countries of the WHO European Region have shown continued commitment to measles and rubella elimination even with the COVID-19 pandemic creating an extraordinary burden on health systems.

As part of an annual verification process, a majority of countries have submitted their annual status updates on measles and rubella transmission for 2019 for review by the independent European Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination (RVC).

Exceptional verification process in an exceptional year

The RVC is an independent group of experts that meets each year in June to review surveillance and immunization data submitted by the national verification committees, with the aim of assessing the status of measles and rubella elimination in each country and the Region. This year the RVC meets virtually in a series of sessions, the first of which was held on 29 June 2020 when the Commission reviewed 11 of the submitted annual status update reports. These were from:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • Latvia
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan.

The RVC verified that all countries had maintained their measles elimination status; and all countries that had previously achieved rubella elimination maintained this status. The Commission determined that all 11 countries demonstrated the absence of endemic transmission of both diseases in 2019 and commended these countries for the achievement and for documenting their activities.

The Commission based its conclusions on:

  • routine and supplemental immunization performance;
  • measles and rubella surveillance with laboratorial and molecular epidemiology segments;
  • outbreak response;
  • activities focused on advocacy, communication and health literacy of the population and health-care workers;
  • commitment of stakeholders to the elimination goal.

Denmark: elimination of rubella confirmed

This first session provided the opportunity for the RVC to reassess the status of rubella transmission in Denmark, using the latest global guidance and data provided in the annual status updates for 2019 and previous years. Basing its assessment on the review of previous and newly submitted data, the Commission determined that for the first time, Denmark was verified as having eliminated rubella.

Final recommendations and reporting

WHO/Europe will work with countries to support completion of the reporting process where needed. The Commission is expected to review all remaining annual status reports in a series of virtual meetings in the coming months. Once the reports from all 53 countries have been reviewed, the full 9th RVC meeting report with conclusions on elimination status in the Region and country-specific recommendations will be published.

Status of measles and rubella elimination in the European Region in 2018

At its 8th meeting in 2019, the RVC concluded that as of the end of 2018, endemic transmission of measles was interrupted in 37 of 53 countries and endemic rubella transmission was interrupted in 42 countries. Twelve countries were considered measles endemic, 11 were rubella endemic, and nine were endemic for both diseases.

Measles outbreaks

The surge in measles cases that began in 2017 peaked in 2019, with over 100 000 cases reported. Monthly case reports in the initial months of 2020 show a significant decrease in transmission compared to 2018 and 2019, with 12 028 reported for January–June 2020. However, this is still higher than for the same period in 2016 and 2017, and may be an underestimation due to disruptions in laboratory surveillance for measles during the peak of COVID-19 outbreaks in the Region.

Under these circumstances, it is commendable that national health systems have recognized the necessity of continuing efforts to fight against devastating vaccine-preventable diseases, by ensuring prioritization of immunization programmes as a vital part of essential health services, continuation of disease surveillance and detection of and response to outbreaks.

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