The EU-Vietnam free trade agreement, approved by Parliament in February, will eliminate virtually all tariffs over the course of a decade. As it includes binding rules on climate, labour and human rights, MEPs see it as a standard-setter for global trade.
Tackling disinformation
Fake news about Covid-19 can be as dangerous as the virus. MEPs support EU efforts to tackle disinformation, while protecting freedom of expression. In June, Parliament established a special committee to research foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU, including disinformation.
Water points in Somaliland in Somalia mean that people and their livestock can survive extreme weather events like droughts. UNDP Somalia/Mark Naftalin
Some 70 per cent of Somalis live from agriculture and pastoralism but changing weather patterns have meant many cannot access the water to sustain these traditional activities.
Many younger people have left for cities and towns to live in slum settlements where access to facilities is limited, but now a number of dams, dykes and storage tanks built in Somaliland by UNDP and its partners are encouraging people to carry on with their traditional livelihoods by providing stability in the form of a reliable and consistent supply of water.
And as the virus which causes COVID-19 continues to spread across Africa, the new water sources are also key to slowing the spread of the disease by making it easier for people to wash hands and clean household items.
Read more here about how Somalis are living on the frontlines of resilience
The greatest concentration of need is in Africa, but countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia – including middle-income nations – are also being ravaged by crippling levels of food insecurity.
The two Rome-based UN agencies sounded the alarm in a joint report published Friday as the WFP announced that it is scaling up food assistance to an unprecedented 138 million people who face desperate levels of hunger as COVID-19 tightens its grip on some the world’s most fragile countries.
The cost of the WFP’s response is estimated at $4.9 billion – representing nearly half the updated COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, launched this week – with an additional $500 million special provision to prevent famine in countries most at risk.
“Three months ago at the UN Security Council, I told world leaders that we ran the risk of a famine of biblical proportions”, said WFP Executive Director David Beasley.
“Today, our latest data tell us that, since then, millions of the world’s very poorest families have been forced even closer to the abyss”, Mr. Beasley said.
“Livelihoods are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate and now their lives are in imminent danger from starvation”, he said.
“Make no mistake – if we do not act now to end this pandemic of human suffering, many people will die.”
25 mostly African ‘hotspots’
Most of the 25 “hotspots” named in the report stretch from West Africa and across the Sahel to East Africa, including the Sahel, as well Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
It also identifies, in the Middle East, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen; in Asia, Bangladesh; and in Latin America and the Caribbean, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Citing some examples, it says that COVID-19 is compounding a raft of existing problems in South Sudan, making the prospect of famine loom ever larger in areas where intercommunal fighting makes humanitarian access tough or impossible.
Middle East, Latin America
In the Middle East, the pandemic is exacerbating Lebanon’s worst-ever economic crisis, where food insecurity is growing fast not only among citizens, but also 1.5 million Syrians and other refugees.
Hardest hit in Latin America are more than five million Venezuelan migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in neighbouring countries, the report says, adding that worsening economic conditions in host countries could well make matters worse.
According to WFP estimates, the number of people living in acute food insecurity in countries affected by conflict, disasters or economic crises could jump from 149 million before the pandemic took hold to 270 million by year’s end if assistance is not provided urgently.
The Parliament President was speaking at the start of an EU summit on 17 July dedicated to finding agreement among national governments on the EU’s next long-term budget, which would also include measures to help Europe recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
“The discussions and decisions we will be called upon to take will be crucial in rebuilding our Union for the decades to come,” said Sassoli. He said there was no going back following the Covid-19 crisis.
“The pandemic has given us new responsibilities and duties: the responsibility to make choices and the duty to do so in the interests of the many, not the few. If we take this as our brief, it becomes obvious where we should invest: in the green economy, health, education, and in digital, democratic and social rights.”
Sassoli said the recovery plan must help to transform the economy and address widening inequalities: “The recovery plan must be commensurate with our ambitions.”
He said Parliament backed the level of funding proposed by the European Commission and the proposed splits between grants and loans. The President also called for a basket of own resources to be introduced and an end to rebates for some member states, which he called “unfair and hard to justify”.
Sassoli reminded EU leaders that Parliament’s consent to the budget is crucial. “It is unthinkable that a Europe which has reached agreement on a joint response to the crisis should sideline Parliament.”
The President said Parliament was “disappointed” with the Council proposal on the budget being presented at the summit: “If we are to bring about a recovery, we need steady, long-term funding. This is a prerequisite for Parliament’s consent.”
Sassoli stressed the importance of solidarity in the current crisis: ”Europe has grown together based on common values. Let us not reduce the European Union to a continent-wide ATM.”
He added: “Parliament will give its consent to the [EU’s long-term budget] only if it meets the priorities I have mentioned today.”
EURONEWS – The sight of Zinedine Zidane again being thrown into the air by his Real Madrid players could only mean one thing — another title celebration.
With the Frenchman back in charge, Madrid is back to collecting major trophies.
Madrid clinched their 34th Spanish league title — and first since 2017 — after extending their perfect run following the pandemic break with a 2-1 win over Villarreal on Thursday, opening a seven-point gap to second-place Barcelona with one round to go. Barcelona lost to 10-man Osasuna at the Camp Nou Stadium.
Karim Benzema scored twice to give Madrid their 10th consecutive league victory. They were the only team with a perfect record after the coronavirus-enforced break, having trailed Barcelona by two points before the league was halted.
“This is one of the best days in my life professionally,” said Zidane, who also won the Champions League and World Cup as a player. “It’s another league title, after the confinement and everything else that happened. I wish we could celebrate with the fans, but I’m sure they are very happy at home seeing their team win the league again.”
Zidane quit as Madrid coach in 2018 after leading the team to three straight Champions League titles, then returned less than a year later with the team floundering. In his first full season back in charge, Madrid wrested the league title away from Barcelona for the first time in three years.
It was also Madrid’s first league title since Cristiano Ronaldo left to join Juventus two seasons ago.
The title celebrations were subdued as the triumph came with Madrid playing at its training centre because the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is still undergoing renovation work.
Fans have not been allowed into games since the pandemic, and Madrid had warned supporters not to gather at the team’s traditional celebration spots in the Spanish capital. Most of the early celebrations came from fans honking their car horns across the city’s streets.
Captain Sergio Ramos lifted the trophy at the empty Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium as confetti blew in the air behind him and his teammates. Players later threw Zidane into the air a few times, then they all posed for photos in front of one of the goals.
“It has been a strange season after everything that has happened,” said Ramos, who won his fifth Spanish league title. “After the confinement, we knew that we had to win every match to clinch the title. There was no margin for error.”
Barcelona had won the last two league titles but stuttered after the break, drawing three times and losing once after the league resumed.
Benzema — one of Madrid’s key players this season — opened the scoring with a shot from inside the area in the 29th minute and added to the lead by converting a penalty in the 77th, reaching 21 league goals and moving within two of scoring leader Lionel Messi, who netted for Barcelona against Osasuna.
Benzema’s goal from the penalty spot came after Ramos’ initial attempt was called back having just rolled the ball sideways to Benzema to score. The French striker had entered the area too soon and the penalty had to be taken again.
Luka Modric set up Benzema’s first goal after a breakaway that started near midfield.
Fifth-place Villarreal pulled one back with a header by Vicente Iborra in the 83rd. They was denied an equalizer by a great save by Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in stoppage time.
Madrid’s Marco Asensio had a goal disallowed moments later.
Barcelona needed to win its match and hope Madrid slipped up. Instead, it lost 2-1 at home against midtable Osasuna.
Messi scored his league-leading 23rd goal from a free kick in the second half to cancel out José Arnaíz’s opener.
Osasuna lost substitute Enric Gallego to a direct red card for bloodying the mouth of Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet with an elbow to the face in the 77th.
But Osasuna’s Roberto Torres scored in stoppage time with Barcelona pushing forward searching for a late goal.
It was Barcelona’s first home loss in the league since a 4-3 result against Real Betis in November 2018.
Messi said it was “not the way” Barcelona wanted to end the season.
“Madrid did its part by winning all its matches, which is impressive, but we also helped them to win this league,” Messi said. “We have to be critical of how we have played, starting with the players, and for the rest of the club.”
Other results
Mallorca became the second team to be relegated after a 2-1 loss to Granada at home. Espanyol had already been demoted. Leganés keep its chances of survival alive thanks to a 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. Celta Vigo stayed just outside the relegation zone after a 3-2 loss against Levante at home.
Third-place Atlético Madrid won 2-0 at seventh-place Getafe, while fourth-place Sevilla drew 0-0 at sixth-place Real Sociedad. Valencia moved into eighth place to keep alive its hopes of grabbing a Europa League spot after a 1-0 win against last-place Espanyol.
There was a total of nine red cards handed out during the 10 games.
MEP Elżbieta Rafalska: “During the #COVID19 pandemic, we witnessed discrimination against elderly. We cannot tolerate this social strata being left behind as this #pandemic continues to wreak economic & social havoc, destroying the lives of our elderly citizens.” @EPSocialAffairs
(Photo: REUTERS / Akintunde Akinleye)A protester holds a placard calling for the release of secondary school girls abducted in the remote village of Chibok, before a protest along a road in Lagos May 14, 2014. Nigeria’s government signaled a willingness on Tuesday to negotiate with Islamist militants holding more than 200 schoolgirls, a month after the kidnapping that has provoked global outrage.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with an estimated 210 million people, has a distinctive mix of people with almost equal numbers of Christians and Muslims, most of whom get on, living their normal lives intertwined in peace, except when terror strikes.
Therefore, when one of the country’s leading Muslim organizations spoke out against the terror unleashed by the Boko Haram extremist group in the name of Islam, Nigerian Christian leaders welcomed it.
The statement followed frequent criticism from many in the country, including church leaders and ecumenical organizations associated with the World Council of Churches, that the government has not done enough to protect the people from this terror.
The militant Islamist group Boko Haram – which has caused havoc through its wave of bombings, assassinations and abductions – is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it “haram,” or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity – including education – associated with Western society.
On June 17, Jama’atu Nasril Islam or JNI said in a widely reported press release that it is “in utter shockwave over the unfortunate repeated incidences of loss of precious lives and wanton destruction of property arising from well-coordinated attacks of armed bandits, Boko Haram terrorist groups and rapists.”
Elder Uzoaku Williams, president of the Women’s Wing of the Christian Council of Nigeria and publicity secretary of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, said in reaction, “I deeply appreciate the timely and prophetic response of JNI.”
JNI said, “These repeated calamitous scenarios would have been avoided had the government risen to the occasion.
“We nonetheless as always condemn the repeated brutal acts in their entirety; especially the lackadaisical attitude of relevant security agencies that seemed to be overwhelmed, despite repeated calls by concerned and well-meaning Nigerians for decisive action.”
‘BUILDING BACK THE NIGERIAN NATION’
“It is time that religious organizations collectively rescue the nation that is fast enveloping with silence in the face of gruesome destruction of lives and property. I totally align with JNI and together we can build back our nation Nigeria,” said Elder Williams.
JNI said in its statement, “We implore the government to take all genuine calls, concerns so raised and recommendations proffered so far.”
Archbishop Henry C. Ndukuba, primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) expressed appreciation of the deep concern and “pious response” of the leadership of JNI concerning the “degenerated state of insecurity in Nigeria and the West African region.”
JNI said that considering the religious beliefs of the perpetrators, “sincere religious scholars must be involved in arresting the menace.”
“Linked to the menace of gender violence is undoubtedly rape, whose devilish manifestation ought to be sternly addressed.
“Hence, the JNI strongly opines that the female’s chastity, honour and integrity must be fully protected.” JNI called for a collective approach between the Federal Ministries of Women’s Affairs,
Justice, and Internal Affairs, as well “as sincere religious scholars in mapping out strategies of arresting raping and gender violence in Nigeria.”
The group implored all Muslims, particularly imams, to recommence Qunootun-Nawazil “or special prayers at calamitous periods in the last Raka’at of each obligatory prayer and non-obligatory prayers seeking Allah’s intervention.” ”
Likewise, fervent observance of Adhkar (remembrance of Allah) should also be ventured to by all Muslims, as it is a vital tool for easing fears, tension and uncertainties such as the myriad security challenges bedeviling Nigeria,” said JNI.
Boko Haram was founded in 2002. Its official Arabic name, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.”
Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, regardless of whether the president is Muslim or not – and has extended its military campaign by targeting neighbouring countries.
SPECIAL ROLE OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS
Archbishop Ndukuba said, “The religious, community and traditional leaders occupy a very strategic place in this fight and therefore must be sincere in their efforts; first intentionally support the government, and secondly eradicate religious and cultural factors that promote and enhance insecurity.”
In August 2016 Nigerian Christians and Muslims opened the International Centre for Inter-Faith Peace and Harmony, located in Kaduna, where more than 20,000 people have died in various conflicts over the preceding three decades.
Among a growing number of interfaith initiatives in Nigeria, the centre’s goal is to promote interfaith relations and cooperation in Nigeria.
Key local Nigerian organizations, the Christian Council of Nigeria and JNI, led the effort to open the center, which was preceded in 2014 by a consultative forum held in Abuja that drew about 40 Muslim and Christian leaders.
Boko Haram attacks have killed over 30,000 and displaced an estimated 3 million people since July 2009, when the violence started in the country’s northeast states Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, across an area roughly the size of Belgium.
Srebrenica : 25th Anniversary – Srebrenica Memorial Day, 11 July 2020 Remembering Srebrenica: Honour victims and survivors by preventing future atrocities, UN experts urge
GENEVA (9 July 2020) – UN human rights experts today urged governments to honour victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide by building peaceful, inclusive and just societies to prevent a repetition of such an atrocity.
“Genocides are not spontaneous,” the 18 experts said. “They are the culmination of unchallenged and unchecked intolerance, discrimination and violence.” On the 25th anniversary of the start of the genocide, in which at least 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were massacred within a few days, the experts* issued the following statement:
“It’s been 25 years since the world witnessed the worst atrocity to take place on European soil since World War II, the genocide of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in July 1995. The Srebrenica genocide was the outcome of a four-year campaign that marshalled the forces of discrimination, hostility, forced deportation, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, systematic sexual violence and mass murder, resulting in the killing of more than an estimated 8,000 predominantly Bosnian Muslim men and boys. The international community also failed to protect the people of Srebrenica who were killed at the time when they needed our support most.
In remembrance of those whose lives were taken so brutally in this massacre, we are humbled by, and pay particular tribute to, the courage, strength and resilience of the Srebrenica and Žepa survivors who stand with millions of others as totems of the unspeakable devastation that unchecked xenophobia discrimination, hostility and violence against persons based on religion or belief can engender.
The graphic accounts and testimonies of the heinous acts of violence and ethnic cleansing (including sexual violence against women and children) that took place in Srebrenica amounted to genocide, according to both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The besieged town was intended to be a safe haven for persecuted people from nearby villages. On 16 April 1993, the UN Security Council had passed Resolution 819 requiring all parties to treat ‘Srebrenica and its surroundings as a safe area which should be free from any armed attacks or any other hostile act’.
Genocides are not spontaneous. They are the culmination of unchallenged and unchecked intolerance, discrimination and violence. They are the result of sanctioned hatred fostered in permissive environments where individuals first spread fear, then hatred for material or political gain, fracturing the pillars of trust and tolerance between communities and resulting in devastation for all.
In our interconnected, technologically advanced and diverse world, it is deeply alarming that racism, xenophobia, stigmatisation and scapegoating continue unabated, destabilising or even destroying societies and the lives of individuals around the world.
As international experts vested by the international community with global human rights mandates, we are guided by the lessons of the past. We reflect on the lost opportunities to prevail against systematic human rights violations, not just in Bosnia and Herzegovina but in cases of atrocities elsewhere both before and since. But we also aspire to continue to mobilise the international community in its effort to tackle any expression of ethnic, racial, religious, gender-based or other forms of discrimination, hostility and violence against all persons. These include groups in vulnerable situations, such as religious or ethnic or sexual minorities, migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons.
On this day of reflection, 25 years on, we also remember other communities that have been subjected to or are facing mass atrocities purely on the basis of their identity. We urge States and the international community to uphold their obligations, take urgent and effective action to protect those in danger, fend off the virus of hate and discrimination (including online), and ensure accountability.
Building resilience in the post-war era requires respect and empathy for the survivors and their families, and sustained efforts by the leaders of the country to strengthen trust and good-will within and between various communities.
Meaningful efforts to combat inaccurate and inflammatory rhetoric and reject discourses of denial are also crucial. The international community, too, must join Bosnia and Herzegovina in acting collectively through committed, long-term work on healing a society ravaged by war. We owe it to all those whom we failed to protect the guarantee of non-repetition through building peaceful, inclusive and just societies.
ENDS
*The experts: Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, Special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Mr. Fabian Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of the right to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Mr. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Members of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Mr. Luciano Hazan (Chair), Mr. Tae-Ung Baik (Vice Chair), Mr. Bernard Duhaime, Ms. Houria Es-Slami, and Mr. Henrikas Mickevičius; Members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Ms. Leigh Toomey (Chair-Rapporteur), Ms. Elina Steinerte (Vice-Chair), Mr. José Guevara Bermúdez, Mr. Seong-Phil Hong, Mr. Sètondji Adjovi; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression
Book sales were down 13.9% in Germany for the first six months of the year compared with 2019, according to the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the German booksellers association. As of April, the number was even worse—down 21%—but it has since recovered somewhat as German bookstores have largely reopened after a period of lockdown due to the coronavirus.
During the lockdown itself, between March 23 and April 19, in which bookstores had closed in all federal states except Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt, sales were down 65.7% compared to the same period in 2019. In 2019, the German book market saw €9.29 billion in total sales, which was up 1.7% over 2018.
“The pandemic hit the book industry badly economically, but also released a lot of creative energy,” said Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, director of the Börsenverein, citing the launch of new delivery services and online events and the robustness of online stores as assets that have helped the industry through this time. “However, due to the lack of marketing opportunities, many publishers were forced to postpone new publications or to drop them entirely—many of which are titles by unknown authors and niche titles, which is alarming.”
The German government has supported an extensive promotion campaign for books, and the Börsenverein has continued to lobby the government for support, arguing it is necessary to sustain the bookselling ecosystem in light of the ongoing pandemic.
Human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal needs urgent international attention, concludes expert roundtable co-organized by OSCE and partners
VIENNA, 8 July 2020 – Despite its high profits and catastrophic harm to victims, trafficking in human beings for the removal of organs is one of the least understood and addressed forms of human trafficking globally and needs urgent attention from the international community, an international group of experts concluded in a two-day online meeting held on 7 July.
The event, co-organized by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and co-sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), was an opportunity to share experiences in addressing this challenge and examine possible ways to enhance responses in the OSCE region.
The meeting gathered legal, criminal justice, medical and victim-protection experts from over 20 OSCE participating States, Partners for Co-operation and international organizations.
The experts noted that, although it is specifically mentioned in the internationally-recognized definition of trafficking in human beings, human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal remains a troubling and elusive form of exploitation across the globe. They emphasized the need to raise international attention to the issue and deploy all available tools to combat it.
“One of the things I am struck by is how incredibly challenging it is to respond to this form of trafficking in human beings. And yet I am also optimistic because we have been jointly developing some of the tools we need like new technologies and improved financial investigations,” said OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey. He also added that the OSCE looks forward to working with a wide range of partners on a list of concrete recommendations.
Many participants pointed out the inadequacy of the legal instruments currently in use, and the crucial necessity to enhance co-operation between countries to make perpetrators accountable.
Participants stressed that particular attention needs to be devoted to situations with patients travelling abroad to get a transplant or coming from abroad with a donor. The crimes often cross borders which makes it much harder for investigators and prosecutors to track perpetrators and exercise jurisdiction over cases that can span numerous countries. Without international judicial co-operation, these crimes – even when detected – are rarely prosecuted successfully, noted the participants. They also said that the role of financial investigations in detecting and countering flows of money alimenting and paying for these illegal services is vital.
A crucial point in the discussions was the critical role that can be played by the medical personnel, both in preventing these crimes but also in reporting dubious situations, including when the origins of the organ to be transplanted are not clear.
Participants also proposed improving the capacity of anti-trafficking practitioners and medical personnel to identify victims. Better identification could also lead to enhanced assistance to survivors, which today is mostly lacking.
